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Monarch Receives a "B" from the The Ski Area Citizens' Coalition. The Ski Area Citizens' Coalition works to promote environmental stewardship of ski areas. They do this by providing a way for skiers to assess the environmental performance and policies of their favorite ski areas and resorts. The 2010 season ratings are broken down into several categories. Monarch received the following grades: - Habitat Protection - A
- Watershed Protection - B
- Addressing Global Climate Change - C
- Environmental policies and practices - D
- Overall Grade - B
Monarch has been consistently graded as B (with an A for 2008-2009) for the 10 years that the rating has been compiled. The Ski Area Citizen's Coalition methodology and rating system seems pretty complete, and gives some interesting background on Ski Area impact on the environment. See Monarch Ski Resort's complete Environmental Report Card. Winch Cat Capability at Monarch? At the top of several of your favorite runs in a new feature, s a solid green treat post attached to a very beefy cable with a loop at the end. Presumably this loop hooks up the winch on the snowcat and allows for an easy and controlled trip up and down steeper terrain. As you can imagine, this makes for very exciting snowcat driving, especially since it probably takes place at night! 
Winch cats are regular snowcats outfitted with winches on a rotating boom. These winches are attached to anchors at the top of the run. Then the winch cats can go up and down in a controlled manner. Traditionally they are used to groom steep or rough terrain. As these anchors are found at the top of Short N Sweet, Turbo and Mirage (not exactly extreme terrain) they must be hoping the winch cats will do a better job of early season packing and allow for smoother grooming during the year. Confused? This is what winch cats look like, at Telluride. Or, get a real lesson from the winch cat crew at Beaver Creek. If you know more details, let me know. Either way, I think we are in for some really nice steep corduroy groomers! Alaska National Guard Blackhawk Helicopter Crashes Near Monarch Ski and Snowboard Area. 
Blackhawk helicopter crashes on Monarch Pass, helicopter and trees are a total loss.For more details, check out the Salida Colorado News website. Monarch Ski Area hosts the Special Forces! - January 12, 2009 US Army 10th Special Forces Unit trains at Monarch -
photo by Kevin Munro at Afternoon Ski Club
This Fort Carson (Colorado) Special Forces unit trained for cold weather and related extreme conditions during a recent field posting near Salida. Part of their training included some ski days at Monarch. Their soft boots and heavy packs made for interesting skiing ... and then they got to go back to their tents for the night. No hot tubs and high life for these guys. If you are interested in military history or WWII, you might consider a day-road-trip up to the Leadville area. The famous 10th Mountain Division spent much of its early years training in that area. This division developed many of the early winter fighting techniques and a large number of Colorado ski areas were founded by men who came from it.
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