Monarch Ski Resort
Monarch Ski Resort is a ski area located in the state of Colorado in USA. The resort is in the town of Salida, CO.
We recently ranked all of Colorado's ski resorts, so you can see where Monarch stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Monarch is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes with with Monarch Ski Resort. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Monarch's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Monarch around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Monarch Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Monarch has a total of 64 ski trails, which are serviced by 7 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. With 800 acres, Monarch Ski Resort has a moderate amount of skiiable terrain available for skiers. This area is equivalent to 324 hectares, 1.3 square miles, or 3.2 square kilometers.
Monarch's slopes see on average 350 inches (10.7 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 29 feet every year!
Total Runs
64
Lifts
7
Skiable Acres
800(3 km2)
Annual Snowfall
350"(10,668 cm)
Monarch Ski Resort Elevation
Monarch Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 11,952 feet, or 3,643 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 10,790 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 1,162 feet (354 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 11,952 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
11,952'(3,643 m)
Vertical Drop
1,162'(354 m)
Base Elevation
10,790'(3,289 m)
Monarch Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
51out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Monarch has 800 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Monarch is mostly a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 23% of its trails as easy. However, it also has its fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 77%.
Beginner
23%(184 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
27%(216 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
50%(400 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Monarch Ski Resort good for beginners?
Monarch can be beginner-friendly, depending on the runs you take. While it ranks in the lower half of all North American ski areas in terms of overall difficulty, it still has 77% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Monarch Ski Resort Location
Monarch Ski Resort is located in the state of Colorado, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Salida, CO.
Address:
Salida, CO 81201 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
skimonarch.com
GPS Coordinates:
38.54000, -106.33000
Getting to Monarch Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Monarch Ski Resort), its coordinates of 38.54000, -106.33000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Salida, CO to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Monarch Ski Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denver International Airport | DEN | Denver, CO | 127 mi |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Monarch.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aspen-Pitkin Co/Sardy Field | ASE | Aspen, CO | 55 mi |
| San Luis Valley Regional Airport/Bergman Field | ALS | Alamosa, CO | 80 mi |
| Eagle County Regional Airport | EGE | Eagle, CO | 82 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Monarch Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Monarch Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crested Butte | Crested Butte, CO | 12,162 ft | 74% | 42 mi |
| Powderhorn Ski Resort | Powderhorn, CO | 9,850 ft | 58% | 45 mi |
| Aspen Mountain Ski Resort | Aspen, CO | 11,212 ft | 79% | 52 mi |
| Aspen Highlands Ski Resort | Aspen, CO | 11,675 ft | 93% | 53 mi |
| Aspen Snowmass | Snowmass Village, CO | 12,510 ft | 86% | 55 mi |
| Ski Cooper | Leadville, CO | 11,700 ft | 42% | 57 mi |
| Copper Mountain | Frisco, CO | 12,313 ft | 66% | 64 mi |
| Breckenridge | Breckenridge, CO | 12,998 ft | 82% | 68 mi |
| Beaver Creek | Beaver Creek, CO | 11,440 ft | 62% | 75 mi |
| Vail | Vail, CO | 11,570 ft | 77% | 76 mi |
| Keystone | Dillon, CO | 12,408 ft | 69% | 76 mi |
| Wolf Creek | Pagosa Springs, CO | 11,904 ft | 50% | 78 mi |
| Sunlight | Glenwood Springs, CO | 9,895 ft | 51% | 80 mi |
| Loveland Ski Area | Dillon, CO | 13,010 ft | 63% | 82 mi |
| Silverton | Silverton, CO | 13,487 ft | 99% | 88 mi |
| Kendall Mountain Ski Area | Silverton, CO | 9,596 ft | 19% | 88 mi |
| Echo Mountain Resort | Idaho Springs, CO | 10,650 ft | 27% | 90 mi |
| Buttermilk | Larkspur, CO | 9,900 ft | 47% | 90 mi |
| Telluride | Telluride, CO | 13,320 ft | 89% | 91 mi |
| Winter Park Resort | Winter Park, CO | 12,060 ft | 72% | 98 mi |
| Ski Granby Ranch | Granby, CO | 9,202 ft | 30% | 100 mi |
Monarch Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 11,952 ft |
| Base Elevation | 10,790 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 1,162 ft |
| Trails | 64 (23% Beginner, 27% Intermediate, 50% Expert) |
| Lifts | 7 |
| Skiable Acres | 800 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 350 inches |