Monarch Mountain is undergoing $1.2 million in ski area improvements leading into the 2010-2011 season. Monarch’s director of marketing, Greg Ralph, says Monarch benefitted from a record number of skier visits last season and is reinvesting in the area to enhance the family experience at the mountain. This season’s improvements include lift updates and upgrades, plus enhancements to the base lodge and rental/lesson center.
Monarch installed a new base terminal for the Garfield chairlift that includes a new and improved loading station, drive units and hydraulics so that the chair runs more efficiently. The Pioneer quad chair lift will have a new unloading ramp, which will help ease the unloading process at the top of the lift. The Garfield and Pioneer lift mazes will include new lane dividers to facilitate the flow of maze traffic.
At the base lodge, Monarch is installing two additional Hydration Stations at the Picnic Room on the lower level of the main lodge and the Rental/Lesson Center building. Monarch installed its first Hydration Station on the top level of the main building last year. Meanwhile, the “highest Starbuck’s in the free world,” as Monarch puts it, will be relocated to the top floor of the main lodge and a new deli takes the space at Starbuck’s former location.
The Rental/Lesson Center adds 600 sets of new Head rental skis, boots and bindings, which will complement new snowboard and demo skis. New boot dryers will be added to the rental shop and the reservation counters remodeled to speed up the delivery of reserved equipment. The Children’s Center is also being remodeled. And, Monarch will install a new yurt for the junior mountain program that will be used for registration and as a warming hut for the older kids.
On-mountain terrain improvements have been geared toward beginners and families, including a gentler access point paralleling Romp to make it easier to ski or ride to terrain on the west side of the mountain and the addition of several new features to the kids’ terrain park known as Tilt.
Monarch’s “organic” K2 Terrain Park will have several new all-natural features and a new log entrance. All the features and the entrance to the park are made from downed trees at the area. More grooming is also on tap with the addition of a new Prinoth Bison Snowcat.
For more information, go to www.skimonarch.com
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