Monarch Mountain ski resort plans expansion and upgrades

Public invited to give input on master plan

There may be changes on the horizon at Monarch Mountain Ski Resort. A proposed master development plan includes new lift-served terrain that would increase the size of the resort by 43 percent as well as additional parking and upgraded facilities. The resort recently submitted a draft of the plan to the Forest Service.

The draft plan is available for review at www.skimonarch.com. As part of the review process, the agency and the resort will host a public open house in the ballroom at the Steam Plant in Salida, with hors d’oeuvres, from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21.  Feedback may also be shared at comments@skimonarch.com.
“We’re proposing a 344-acre expansion in the Gunnison Forest [in No Name Basin], and that would encompass one chairlift and about 62 acres of new trails and 58 acres of gladed skiing,” said Monarch president Rich Moorhead. “The other components of the plan primarily involve a lot of upgrading.”
According to Moorhead, much of the plan has been designed to support a growing population. Over the past 10 years, skier visits to the 800-acre resort have increased by about 30,000. Last year the resort saw just over 170,000 skier visits.
“We need to address some of the shortcomings we currently have, and we feel we can increase our skier visits to over 200,000,” Moorhead said.
The plan is conceptual at this point—it is still subject to approval by the Forest Service, and according to Moorhead, nothing is set in stone. But over the next five to 10 years, Monarch hopes to provide guests with amenities like increased parking, a larger children’s center, conveyor lifts in the children’s teaching area, a tubing hill and some on-mountain work to widen and grade trails.
Behind the scenes, the plan includes adding to the wastewater treatment facility, increasing snow storage and adding a new building to the maintenance facility. And there’s one thing that won’t change: the feel of Monarch Ski Resort.  
“We’ll still be low-key, affordable. We aren’t putting in a village, we aren’t putting in any condos,” said marketing director Greg Ralph.
And according to Moorhead, “It’s a relatively conservative plan. It’s not grandiose in any way. We are really hoping to keep the same flavor of the ski area we [have] now. We’re a family ski area, and we are really trying to keep that feel.”