This week all our crews have been busy putting the finishing touches on the Crest to prep for opening day this Friday. Our Slope Maintenance, Vehicle Maintenance, Patrol, and Base Services crews have been working hard installing new sun shades over the outdoor seating area as well as adding a little flair with the new flags on the roof. I…
Last week in preparation for the opening of the Crest, our Tram crew conducted its annual training on our manual evacuation procedure. This evacuation method would only be used if the primary (electric) and evacuation (gas or diesel) drives both went out. You can rest assured that every time you load one of our lifts, our well trained crew has…
To all of you who have been avid readers of Scott’s Blog throughout the years I wanted to take a second to introduce your new blogger(s). My name is BL Holdinghaus and I grew up on a farm in Missouri before moving to Canon City in 2004 to become a raft guide. My first introduction to Monarch was in 2005…
After 27 years, today is Scott Pressly’s last day at Monarch. This week Scott gave a great farewell and rundown of some of his accomplishments on his final blog post and unsurprisingly, he spent the post describing what “we” accomplished. He is correct (as always) that it takes a village to run a ski area and complete these projects, however,…
After twenty-seven years at Monarch Mountain, it’s time for my final sweep. I have decided that this is my last season working at Monarch and I’ll be stepping down as the Director of Mountain Operations. This will also be my final blog post with “Scott’s Blog”. Don’t worry, the blog will continue! BL Holdinghaus, will be heading up Mountain Operations…
Perched high atop Monarch Pass, the Monarch Crest Scenic Tramway has become one of the most recognizable roadside attractions on the 3,000+ mile transcontinental U.S. Route 50. For six decades, the Scenic Tram has carried visitors above the Continental Divide for panoramic alpine views. Its history involves generations of locally based entrepreneurs, human ingenuity and resolve, along with the evolution…
It’s time to recognize those that have carried the torch for Monarch. We recently created a wall on the upper level of the Lodge near the Administrative offices that highlights the General Managers that have guided Monarch over the decades. Here’s a little backstory. In the early years after Monarch’s inception in 1939, the mountain was a ski club, then…
The Mountain Ops team has been clearing our access roads and evaluating the runoff. The western side got a head start during the unusually warm month of March. So, our access opened up fairly quickly on this side – although we did still have some drifts and consolidated snow on portions of our roadway. Each spring, we look to ensure…
I’m working through some spring cleaning of the office. While doing so, I found this aerial photograph of Monarch and Mirkwood Basin taken in 2005. The spruce beetles moved into the area around 2010 and decimated the mature stands of spruce trees over the next few years. The Monarch Pass Vegetation Management project was implemented in 2018 and thinning work…
