Monarch Mountain wraps up ski season early due to warm weather

SALIDA, Colo. (KRDO) -- Monarch Mountain will end its ski season early, on Sunday, after an unusually warm winter. The ski resort will shut down about two weeks earlier than it had originally planned.

"It was certainly one of our more challenging seasons in recent history," says Monarch Mountain General Manager Chris Haggerty.

With snowpacks in the mountains at a historic low, Monarch Mountain made the decision to close up for the season on March 29.

"Snowfall has not been favorable the whole season, right? The front range temperatures have been much warmer than normal," Haggerty said. "Those are the things that have impacted it the most."

He says that the impact was significant.

"We'll probably shake out to be, somewhere, 15-20% down overall."

Haggerty says Monarch still managed to have a successful season overall. While snowfall was low, they managed to make it work, despite being a resort that doesn't make its own snow, relying instead on natural accumulation. They closely monitored the trails to keep as much snow as possible, and did plenty of snow farming.

"We also put up fences all over our mountain to catch snow, that's not just actively snowing, but like being wind-blown," Haggerty said. "This winter it was like, no, we'd better be grade-A, top-notch snow farmers because we might not see snow for 10 to 14 days."

Since they can't control the weather, Haggerty says the focus will be on preparing for next season by clearing and maintaining the runs to allow snow to accumulate more easily next winter. They're also looking to install more fences for snow farming around the mountain.

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