Monarch / Garfield, Colorado Ski & Snowboard

If it's one thing Monarch is profoundly good at, it's taking advantage of the staggering mountain and the powder deep enough to lose someone in. Skiing and snowboarding is an art here, enjoying the more than 350 inches per year of snowfall, temperatures brisk enough to keep it on the ground when other resorts are melting, and runs that range from starter-fun to breathtakingly challenging. Monarch now offers snowcat tours of the backcountry as well, accessing another 650 acres of extreme terrain only for the very experienced. With more untouched tree runs than any other resort in the state, there is not a day in the year you will find all the snow packed out. Being the locals' best kept secret, you also won't find lines the length of Kansas either, meaning awesome runs followed by more awesome runs without all that standing around for the lift in between.

 

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