Monarch, CO: 04/03/21

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
For my final ski weekend of the season, I headed back to Colorado to get a few more days on my Loveland season pass. After a couple hours on Route 285 through expansive unpopulated valleys, you turn right onto Route 50 and head up toward Monarch Pass:
20210403_152617-jpg.jpg


Even though all of the snow in the Front Range has melted, including the storm in mid-March that dropped up to two feet on Denver, up here there's still 100% coverage.
20210403_152407-jpg.jpg


The people in the SUV next to me had this cute pitbull, Ollie, who quickly made friends with the parking attendant:
20210402_195034-jpg.jpg


Similar to Loveland, Monarch has had a subpar winter and is 50 inches below its annual average. Tony assured me that their brochure quote of 350 inches is exaggerated.
20210402_140044-jpg.jpg


Monarch is located right on the Continental Divide, so it's basically east-facing:
20210402_130321-jpg.jpg


With a majority of intermediate terrain (and a few steep sections mixed in), trees that go to the summit, and no rain ever at this high elevation, I've always encountered nice conditions here. Temps in the low 40s and blue skies were just right for excellent spring skiing:
20210402_130058-jpg.jpg


Even on a busy Saturday, there was plenty of elbow room. Impressive how Monarch spreads people out across its relatively small footprint of less than 700 lift-served acres:
20210402_105315-jpg.jpg


Little Mo is a beautiful rolling trail that I did eight times in a row to start the day. By 9 am, the sun had softened it up perfectly:
20210403_152520-jpg.jpg


Looking down on the Turbo trail:
20210403_152804-jpg.jpg


I've done this hike a few times before and it was absolutely worth it but during this time of year, if the snow hasn't been groomed or compacted by skiers, it's tough going so I took a pass --
20210402_131710-jpg.jpg


-- and headed over to Outback Bowl, straight ahead, which is always fun:
20210402_132329-jpg.jpg


I skied basically nonstop from 8:45 to 2:15, at which time my legs were getting tired and the flats heading into the lifts were getting a bit grabby, so I headed back into Salida to check out the cute town with lots of brick buildings. Monarch ski area has its own store, on the left:
20210403_165409-jpg.jpg


Snow-capped mountains are visible in almost every direction, including from the town park:
20210403_165317-jpg.jpg


20210403_161308-jpg.jpg


The Great Divide restaurant, where I had drinks and an early dinner on their outdoor stage:
20210403_163641-jpg.jpg


The Arkansas River is a big attraction around here for all sorts of recreational pursuits, including right in town, where people were swimming, rafting, fishing, boogie-boarding, biking, walking, playing fetch with their dogs, etc. I went in to my knees and the water wasn't as cold as I'd expected given the snow runoff that was feeding it.
20210403_161228-jpg.jpg


20210403_163138-jpg.jpg
 
Spring conditions despite the altitude? How warm was it up there? Considering your bathing suit pictures in 7,000 foot Salida, perhaps warmer than I might expect for early April.
Saturday was absolutely gorgeous with sunny skies and very warm temperatures that rose to near 50 degrees at many mountains with some 60s near base areas.
 
That Loveland pass looks very tempting.
If we're lucky enough to be able to travel in December/January for the kids school holidays this pass is a consideration but I'm only seeing Targhee as a sure fire bet for early season. Would this pass be better suited to a end of March/early April trip?
If travelling early season Mountain Collective is a better bet with Targhee/Jackson/Alta/Snowbird?
 
Tony Crocker":2npx759y said:
Spring conditions despite the altitude? How warm was it up there?
100% spring conditions. The actual temps were allegedly only in the mid-40s but the sun was blazing.
 
yep, the sun starts to overpower the air temps at some of those areas, even at 10,000+ ft One of the reasons Wolf Creek closes in early April is it becomes a slushfesh, and with its low angle terrain, difficult to ride and not much fun. As Tony knows, Monarch is over half east facing.

Nice report, James. I always had intentions of going to Monarch when I lived in Pagosa, but never made it there. Salida, is indeed a fun town and perfect for those that like being near the big peaks, but in a mild valley. We briefly has Salida on our short list a few years ago, but decided it wasn't quite right for us.
 
snowave":2hj4zh1x said:
One of the reasons Wolf Creek closes in early April is it becomes a slushfesh, and with its low angle terrain, difficult to ride and not much fun.
Yes, steep pitch is a key part of the top of Mammoth and much of A-Basin retaining winter snow, and perhaps Breck's high alpine as well. The other factor is wind, which tends to sublimate surface snow rather than melt it. This is even more important at Loveland, which does not have much in the way of steeps yet was majority winter snow during both of my April days there.
 
Sbooker":2y12sdsg said:
That Loveland pass looks very tempting.
If we're lucky enough to be able to travel in December/January for the kids school holidays this pass is a consideration but I'm only seeing Targhee as a sure fire bet for early season. Would this pass be better suited to a end of March/early April trip?
If travelling early season Mountain Collective is a better bet with Targhee/Jackson/Alta/Snowbird?
While Loveland itself is extremely skewed to late season, the interior Northwest places on its pass, notably the key ones Schweitzer and Whitefish, have decent early season track records but are a slushfest most springs with low altitude and sunny exposures. That goes for Powder Mt. too, though PowMow has suffered greatly during Utah's three slow starting seasons over the past decade.

The bottom line is that early or late season but especially early season calls for last minute flexibility. MCP has greater geographic breadth in that regard. Either trip is best done similar to the way we do the Alps. Book flights to SLC (central location plus high probability local options) and rent a car, but wait until close to departure to choose resorts.
 
Salida is a surprisingly good spot in Colo considering it's not too well known to most. Though it is well known enough that housing prices are still out of reach of most folks, though a fair bit less than most resort towns at the same time.
 
EMSC":gaqb2of1 said:
Salida is a surprisingly good spot in Colo considering it's not too well known to most. Though it is well known enough that housing prices are still out of reach of most folks, though a fair bit less than most resort towns at the same time.
I cruised through a good part of the town checking out the housing stock. I saw a number of attractive "Victorian" homes like this --
1024px-Alexander_House.JPG


-- but lots of sh*tboxes on yards with no trees or landscaping. Look at this one for $450K! LOL, taxes only $1,290 a year. How do you keep schools going with that kind of tax rate?
 
Coming from your recent link to this TR and apparently never having seen your housing reply till now... (not a surprise I didn't see it, life was starting to get a touch too crazy busy right about then as my father got real sick).

Anyway that linked place is now on the market for $550K, lol. I have friends with a place on I street that's worth something like $650K despite being a very basic one story,1750 sq ft, one car garage, etc... I looked at places nearby more than a year ago for a mtn house location (primarily summer focused) but but couldn't afford it. Despite Monarch nearby, it's no Breck or Vail, but the home prices are headed that way in a big way...

As to the taxes; In Colorado nearly 2/3 of school funding is supplied by the state via income taxes/general budget, not local RE taxes.
 
Back
Top