How one Colorado ski areas farms its snow
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Monarch Mountain ski area. Photo: Courtesy of Monarch Mountain
Without snowmaking equipment, Monarch Mountain outside Salida relies on Mother Nature to turn its ski runs white each winter.
Yes, but: In low snow years like this one, she needs a little help, says Malcolm Wilber, the ski area's assistant director for base operations.
"One of the things that sets Monarch apart from other ski areas is being 100% natural snow," he tells us. "But it creates those challenges."
State of play: To meet the challenge, Monarch has perfected the science of snow farming.
- It's how the mountain is able to spin seven of its eight lifts and open 75% of its terrain at a time when other Colorado ski areas are struggling.
The big picture: Other ski areas in Colorado rely on natural snow, including Ski Cooper and Wolf Creek, but Monarch's efforts go beyond most of its peers.
How it works: The operation starts in the summer. The mountain's trail crew builds snow fencing and clears large rocks and trees that are hazards. All this makes it easier to build a base of snow on ski runs.
The snow starts to fall at Monarch early each fall thanks to its 10,800-foot base elevation and 11,900-foot peaks. The mountain's operations team plows the snow from the parking lots and transfers it to the base area.
- To get snow on its trails, the operations team uses permanent and mobile fencing to collect and keep snow from blowing off the mountain.
- From there, snow groomers connect the white drifts of collected snow and spread them across a ski trail, or move the snow elsewhere on the mountain.
What he's saying: The operation requires knowledge of the terrain and weather patterns.
- "It's a game that we sort of play throughout the year," Wilber says. "Not everybody sees the magic."