Conditions Report
Report from December 27-28
Monarch Mountain, Colorado, received a reported three inches on Friday morning and an additional four inches on Saturday.
Conditions on the mountain felt even deeper than that, though.
Both Friday, December 27, and Saturday, December 28, started with fresh powder and slightly overcast skies.
Friday, in particular, was a picture-perfect bluebird powder day.
We thoroughly skied the large rock feature near the Dire Straits trail, as well as the rocks on Sheer-Rocko and under the Pioneer lift.
The mountain’s most demanding lines are officially in for the season.
Saturday provided fresh tracks in a foot or more of powder for those who worked for it.
The 48-hour total stood at seven inches on Saturday morning.
It felt like a foot or more in Mirkwood Basin and on trails like Outback from the Breezeway lift.
Outback requires nothing more than a moment of skating to access.
Mirkwood Basin took me an average of 14 minutes to hike to, and it was worth it every time.
The Mirkwood Bowl and Orcs trails were not open.
Instead, we skied Elation Ridge and East Trees, which held the deepest pockets of snow on the mountain.
Elation Ridge was fantastic, the best skiing I’ve had so far this season.
East Trees also held considerably more snow than reported.
I was delighted to discover that most of Mirkwood Basin does not require a hike, so I continued to ski that zone until it closed at 2:30.
The rest of the mountain also skied very well.
Crowds were minimal for the holiday weekend; fresh tracks could be had throughout the day across the mountain.
This storm was truly delivered, especially with additional snowfall on Sunday and Monday.
We will have a relatively dry week before more snow comes into Colorado around January 5.
Check out conditions reports and forecasts below:
WEATHER FORECAST
SNOW REPORT
