Monarch, CO 01/07/17

For this quick in-and-out visit to Colorado, I decided to go back to a few ski areas that impressed me many moons ago but are just far enough from the Front Range to deter most fly-in visitors. Monarch, located right along the high mountain pass with the same name, is a classic non-resort with comparatively modest stats (1,170 vertical feet, about the same as Plattekill), no high-speed lifts, zero snowmaking, and no lodging. As mentioned in my magazine article from a few years back, it's mainly a locals hill for Colorado Springs and Pueblo, the nearby towns of Salida and Gunnison, along with drive-up skiers from neighboring western Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

On the three-hour drive from Denver on Route 285, it was a bit brisk in the valleys. Some were reporting as low as -35 ambient temperature:



The region had gotten a nice dump midweek that actually closed Route 50 (something that happens very rarely), so Monarch didn't open on Thursday; thus, I missed a three-foot powder day on Friday:



Still, it was fun tracking through the sloppy seconds on the lift-served part of the mountain during the first couple hours. After a slow start to the season, they'd already gotten 173 inches YTD and everything was covered nicely. Despite its short vertical, there's a lot of variety in the terrain:



Shag Nasty


Outback Bowl


I stopped in for an early lunch at the pleasant Sidewinder Saloon featuring a great beer selection:





Finally, I was ready to tackle the hike-to Mirkwood Basin, which is, for lack of a better analogy, Monarch's version of Solitude's Honeycomb Canyon. For people who are in decent shape and accustomed to the altitude, it's a 15-20 minute shuffle/hike. For me, who had flown in the previous day from 200 feet above sea level, it took a good 40 minutes of huffing and puffing to get to the 12K summit. More than 30 people must have passed me on the way up, but I finally arrived and was happy with the end result.







Looking over the edge into the Basin:



Paydirt:





Further down heading into the trees:





Funny how I met three different people on the lifts, all from the Rochester area, who'd moved out to the region after decades skiing Bristol and the other western NY hills. In short, a great "little area that rocks" -- recommended!

Ehh
I've seen better...

Awesome tr James!

To a lot of folks I bet it seems strange to fly all the way to Colorado to ski at an area with only 1170 feet of liftcserved vertical!

From what I can tell Monarch is a little area that rocks. I'll get there in a few years.

As always... top notch TR.  Great shots, along with great story telling.  "Paydirt" looked awesome.

Thanks for sharing.  Looking forward to the next one?

raisingarizona wrote

From what I can tell Monarch is a little area that rocks.

It has a bunch of strong points: a great community feel (people there talk about the ski area like a family member), 350 inches average snowfall, a nice hike-to sector, and a cat-ski operation. Worth checking out!

Looks like a very cool place. Wouldn't it be nice to have a month of free time and a truck camper to just crawl around the west and spend a couple days each at all the little hidden gems out there...

I got winded just looking at the elevation sign at the top of Mirkwood. Looks like a great little place. Nice report.

Excellent trip report. As mentioned, I also got winded looking at the elevation sign.