The Monarch trail maps have evolved over the eight (and counting) decades of operation. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely LOVE trail maps. Every time I visit a mountain I am sure to pick up the latest version on hand and add it to my collection. I have a large aerial photo in my office of the whole mountain that includes all of the lift terrain and cat skiing terrain. On another wall I have an original version of a Monarch trail map drawn by the late & great Bill C. Brown. This map dates to the 80’s after the Panorama Lift was installed.

This winter I was given the ultimate trail map gift with a copy of James Niehues “The Man Behind the Map“. This is a MUST have for any trail map junkies out there. Just for the record, Mr. Niehues’ work is represented in our current trail maps that we use for the ski area and the MCS terrain. I have done some digging around over the years and located several classic Monarch Maps. I won’t share them all at once, but here are a few to enjoy.