On 1/6 I bought our kids lift tickets at the window instead of online because I couldn’t get their cards to reload online and didn’t think much of it. I realized after the fact that they were $40 more at the window which is a ridiculous difference! When I asked them about it they were like well that’s our surge pricing because we’re busy which is fine but they don’t raise it at all online?
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Monarch is awesome. The staff is friendly and the lift ticket prices are reasonable
Mirkwood hike-to terrain is the real deal.
Can't say enough good things about this place.
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I skied here on a Thursday to check it off the list, checking it off the list was the only reason to go here just about, maybe other than as a cheaper place to learn to ski. The biggest problem is the lack of vertical and lift ride time for that amount of vert. On paper the lifts are 700-800 vertical feet on paper. But they feature long flat run-outs in gullies. Not only does this eat up 1/3 of your vert, it adds length to slow lifts making the ride time per vertical foot very long. This reminded me a lot of growing up skiing in Pennsylvania.
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I'm Texan with a second home in Canon City. My family has skied here for the past 3 years and it is by far the best value in the state. I do not understand the problems with the other reviewer, but we ski the trails which there are plenty of for beginner and intermediate skiers. There is no night life because of there is no town attached. It has had good snow and no waiting in lines. If you go over the Christmas holidays as we do, it's lightly crowded and you might have to wait in line for no more than 5 minutes. Rent your equipment before you get there, less crowded and hit the slopes running !
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I took my family to this resort three years in a row, only because it was the closest to where my family lived. I spent thousands each year.

Then, during our third visit, the ski patrol gave me and my family a hard time, getting up in my face with ridiculous machismo and threatening to revoke our paid passes, simply because we took an innocent little detour through an unroped, unsigned, well-worn path that went around a small stand of trees. We were skiing and kids will be kids. There did not appear to be any danger involved in it. Not only were others doing it, but while I was being harassed by the jerk staff, more people went down the same way, and they couldn't seem to control the situation. That didn't encourage them to acknowledge the poor signage. They just kept harassing me and threatening me.

It completely ruined my mood and those of my young relatives who were enjoying their time on the slopes up until that point.

I made a followup complaint with the owners, but the prick who harassed me somehow got to be the one who handled his own oversight, and he was still 100% unapologetic. Unbelievable.

Needless to say my family and I have never been back to Monarch and cannot recommend it for anyone with family who like to enjoy themselves while skiing.
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Monarch is a small mountain with some potential. They have an interesting hike-to area along a ridge at the top of the mountain. This provides some interesting tree skiing but not any runs of particularly length or great alpine lines.

Unfortunately, the size of the mountain means shorter lines, less snow and less alpine. On the other hand however, this is a friendly locals mountain. Uncrowded slopes and excellent customer service shine. The local facilities are not on the same scale as the majority of other Colorado resorts.

The NeverSummer park has potential but was poorly made at the time of my visit. Jumps had poor geometry and it was exceptionally easy to overshoot the down-ramp on even intermediate size features. Similarly one of the up-pipes had such a divoted out-run that my knees nearly remained above my eyebrows for the remainder of the day. A little care and rework could turn this into a really fun and challenging area.

The nearby area doesn't have much in the way of facility but a snowmobile tour with Monarch Snowmobiles is a great way of passing a day. Check out one with a freeride option for the chance to let loose in a meadow as well as do a little trail riding.
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Had the best family ski vacation at Monarch Mountain this year! It was our first time to ski there and we all loved it. The snow, and the friendliness of the employees were the best we'd ever experienced.

Having skied at many different resorts over the years, we've come to appreciate that "biggest" is not always best, and this small ski resort is one of the best values around.

No night life at the mountain, but Salida (20 minutes away) is a neat little town with nice places to stay and great restaurants. We're definitely going back!
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Monarch is a great place to ski if you live in Southern Colorado. You get a few tourists from Texas and New Mexico as well. Kinda cool to have the opportunity to ski on top of the Continental Divide—the views just can't be beat. Very family friendly and a fun place to take the kids for a day of learning to ski.

Pros: The snow here can be really good when the storms drop down to the south—the lack of a resort town means if you hit the road early you can get lots of fresh tracks. Easy drive up and back from SoCo. Usually two-for-one passes at local gas stations during the season. Friendly staff and cool Ski Patrol. Fun place to go with the family.

Cons: There is no town attached to the ski resort so just plan on going on your way after a good day of skiing. Expect to hit the same runs over and over again.
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Strengths of Monarch Mountain include inexpensive lift tickets, equipment rentals, lessons, food and accommodation. This is a good spot for an affordable ski vacation, and it is popular with Texans who can easily get direct flights into Gunnison.

The lack of crowds is another plus although it’s only uncrowded relative to the high profile Colorado ski resorts. I think I’d expected Monarch would be an undiscovered gem and almost deserted, which it definitely wasn’t. Sometimes the day lodge doesn’t cope with the numbers, but the future renovation plans should remedy this.

Another strong point of Monarch was the nice vibe. It’s a happy place and everyone’s very friendly.

The lift infrastructure is a limitation of Monarch, but this is to be expected for a low cost low frills ski resort. Other limitations include the small size of the ski area and the annoyingly short runs that feed off cat tracks.
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