NO LINES, NO TRAFFIC, NO DISTRACTIONS FROM THE POWDER.
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.
This story is from the December 2017 edition of Popular Mechanics.
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This story is from the December 2017 edition of Popular Mechanics.
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