Monarch Snowcat Tours, Salida Colorado: Great Powder, Great PeopleView Comments

The Colorado winter began slowly, evoking a nervous vibe among the powder hounds. We’d seen this before though. We knew it would come but we just were not sure when. It was late December when the white fluff finally arrived, falling in copious amount; the San Juan’s were pummeled with snow totals into the nineties to hundreds of inches.

The destination was Monarch Snow Cat Tours, which are located right on Highway 50 just west of Salida Colorado. Monarch is located in the Sawatch Range just north and east of the San Juan’s. Being shaped like a catchers mitt, they too had been blessed with a 90+ inch base by mid January.

Pops, Jeff and I made our way to Monarch Mountain for a day of cat skiing. Little did we know it would end up being one of the best times as well as one of the strangest. Pops and I skied Monarch on Friday and Jeff made it up later that night. That afternoon a small little storm rolled over the Mountain and blessed us with a solid inch. I was thinking, perfect, just a little more soft stuff on top of a few feet of blower would make the backcountry just right.

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