Conditions Report
Report from March 29-30
Colorado’s Monarch Mountain only reported three inches of snow over the weekend.
The conditions felt much better, though.
Pockets of new snow were deeper than that, and good slushy conditions were had in the afternoon.
It was a fantastic spring weekend at Monarch, with more to come over an extended season.
Only one inch of snow was reported Saturday morning.
We enjoyed soft groomers and fun patches of new snow in the trees.
Although there may have been more than one inch of new snow in places, it wasn’t quite enough to hide crunchy conditions off-piste.
We stuck to the groomed runs until things softened up in the afternoon.
Once the sun came out, it was time to hit the rocks off Pano and get up into Mirkwood.
I knew that the real powder would be stashed in Mirkwood Basin.
We headed up to get the goods after convincing my buddy to take the mild hike.
The clouds parted, and we looked down into the bowl.
It looked great, but we took the north-ish facing tree zone instead.
We dropped into Staircase and immediately knew we had come to the right place.
The name “Staircase” at any resort usually indicates the presence of multiple cliffs, with no exception here.
The run had great pockets of powder and fantastic tree skiing.
In the middle of this zone are three massive cliffs guarding the remainder of the run.
With a bit of familiarity, I think they will be easily navigable and even fun to ski.
The run-out included great untracked trees.
Mirkwood is always worth the hike and mandatory for the first-timer’s tour.
We ended the day with some great runs off the Garfield lift.
We explored the zones skiers right off the lift, including the runs that Monarch opened with over four months ago.
We enjoyed fresh lines in the trees and soft groomers under a prevailing sun.
After a final race down Tango, we made our way down to the Sidewinder Saloon.
Monarch has been hosting live music on Saturday afternoons, among other fun events and competitions.
We stayed from 3 to 5 p.m. for the whole show and enjoyed loaded nachos with a great crowd.
A ski ballet competition is planned for April 5, and the Gunbarrel Challenge on the 6th.
More snow comes into Colorado on Monday night, with a five-day forecast of up to two feet.
CONDITIONS REPORT
WEATHER FORECAST
