The Mountain Ops team continues to work towards getting the mountain ready for the winter season. The snowcat operators have been dozing snow and track-packing the slopes while our patrol team has started stringing ropes and hanging tower pads on the lifts. All of our departments wrapped up their seasonal trainings last week and the company is ready to go.…

It was the last supermoon of 2024 on Friday evening.  The supermoon appears larger than usual as the moon is at its closest point in its orbit around earth.  It’s a pretty spectacular site from a ski tour on top of the Continental Divide.

We picked up another four inches of wind transported snow yesterday afternoon and into the evening. The winds were from the southwest helping to transport snow onto our northeast aspect slopes along the ridge that were scoured by the upslope winds last week.  Every little bit helps. The snowcat operators have been out on the mountain all day dozing snow…

It’s been a stormy week with lots of snow AND lots of wind!  While the snow has been a welcome site, unfortunately the 70mph upslope winds mid-week also partially or completely scoured several areas. These zones include but are not limited to; Sleepy Hollow, Freeway, Lower Glade, all of Pano Ridge, Breezeway, and several of the ridgeline trails near the…

With this week’s storm, we now have enough snow to get some snowcats on the mountain.  The crew has started our annual ritual of track-packing the slopes.  This effort aims to compact the basal layers of snow while creating tracks in the snow that act as mini-snowfences to capture subsequent snow that falls or is driven by the wind.  We…

Monarch is one of the last ski areas in Colorado to not utilize artificial snowmaking in our operation. We take great pride in offering an all natural product and strongly believe that nothing is better than making turns down a trail covered in real snow.  We do however, use several strategies in farming every flake that Mother Nature provides. One…

Here is a little sneak peek at Mirkwood that BL shared from the other day.  The early snowfall is clinging to the bowl and it’s starting to take on its winter look.  We have a long way to go out there, but there looks to be a significant storm in the forecast that will help get things started.  Stay tuned!

We had a very nice elk herd move through the ski area this week.  Thanks to Matt for sharing this photo from when he arrived at work in the morning.  It’s that time of year where hunting activity can move them over ridgelines or winter storms may push animals from the high peaks down into the forest and meadows below. …

Here is an incredible look at Monarch Mountain and the No Name Basin project from 30,000′.  A good friend of the Monarch Family, Ryan Confer, shared this image with us as he was flying overhead in a commercial airplane.  Looking good down there!

I had a chance to visit the southernmost ski area in the United States.  You don’t necessarily correlate the Sonoran Desert with skiing.  Yet, that is what exists just a bit over 100 miles from the Mexican border.  Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley tops out at over 9k feet in elevation high above the valley floor where the Saguaro cactus roam. …