The Lost Mountain
Popular Mechanics|December 2017

NO LINES, NO TRAFFIC, NO DISTRACTIONS FROM THE POWDER.

Matt Allyn
The Lost Mountain

The sunrise drive up U.S. 50 to Monarch Mountain is a gray haze of flying snow, paced for us by a blaze-orange snowplow. It’s a slow chug up toward the Continental Divide, but we’ve come for one of the last pure ski areas—no spas or luxury hotels, no snowmaking or lift lines. A former Works Progress Administration project, Monarch’s chairlifts are mostly two-seaters, and the lodge’s biggest concession to comfort is the two bars running Colorado taps. The mountain’s goal, instead of growth, is making its cotton-stuffing soft powder accessible to those passionate enough to reach its quiet notch in south central Colorado.

Anyone wearing Monarch’s reasonably priced ($89) lift ticket can hike into the 130-acre Mirkwood backcountry, but we’ve come for a snowcat tour. Riding in the back of the alpine hybrid of a tank and a church bus, skipatroller-turned-snowcat-director Aaron Peyrouse will lead us through an additional 1,000 acres of untouched bowls, glades, and chutes.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 2017 من Popular Mechanics.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 2017 من Popular Mechanics.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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