Today....It was all about Danny Davis

A Day at Monarch

Yesterday I made a good last minute decision. I headed over to Monarch Ski Area with Pashley, Pashley's better half Erin and Gary Wyman. Having driven past this place hundreds of times and never stopping in, it was nice to finally check it off the "to do" list. We showed up to Bluebird skies, an almost empty parking lot and tons of fresh snow to track up. I have to say this place is pretty darn sweet. From the road you might not think too much of it. Probably what I have been telling myself for years, but man am I glad I finally stopped in. Like Wolf Creek it gets a lot of snow, however I have to say that there are more sustained pitches than Wolf Creek, less flats, the lifts are shorter and therefor you can make many more runs on a better pitch. There was also a lot of varied terrain for popping ollies over trees and rocks, and there was hardly any one else out on the slopes to compete for the freshest of lines with. All in all I had a blast and look forward to making it back down that way soon! A big thanks goes out to Greg Ralph in the Marketing Department for taking very good care of us! Enjoy some pic....

Headed out of Breckenridge early, but hey it's only a two hour drive, so not that early

Gary didn't want me to take a photo of his long underwear but I did anyways

Breakfast at Lodge and Spa

The drive down

First chair ride at Monarch

Frosty trees are good

Pash, getting barreled

The other chair we rode a lot of

Some of the backcountry options that exist

BOOOOM! Pashley

Wyman

Sick custom Civic!

More frosty tress

gettin artsy I guess

The top

The end

Just a few days in paradise....

So, if you read my previous post from Monday I was heading back up to the Bonnie Bell Cabin for a few days of snow, beer, whisky and shredding. Well the shredding didn't really happen as much as I would have liked but that'll come soon enough. The real goal was to test our new snowcat (which passed with flying colors) drink some whiskey, watch the snow fall, and maybe even get some turns in. So stoked on the new cat. Well it was actually built in 1964, but its new to us, and it absolutely kills it, especially since we got it for free. It rallied up the steep road with supplies and about 7 or so people no problem, and it had to break trail, in the dark, in a snow storm. SO STOKED! The next day we ventured out a bit but only to find avalanches everywhere. We managed to kick a few off our self's too. Mostly small slides in the sense that they weren't traveling very far, but some of them sporting 4-5' crowns, so in the same respect, the mountains demanded respect. Finally, by Wednesday the skies cleared, and everyone eventually trickled back to society. Skylar and I decided to stay an extra day to take care of some repairs on the cat as well as the cabin. I managed to take a late afternoon solo tour to make some turns. Its nice to pick a line from your living room, skin to it, and shred down back to your living room. This will never get old. Dusk fell, and more whiskey was consumed. Sleep, then breakfast, and then work on getting Skylar's sled working which had some frozen fuel lines. Even with a nice sunny day, things happen slowly at 12,000 feet. Finally after damn near pulling 1/2 the sled apart, standing it up on its side, shaking it, we got it started. It too was time for us to head back to civilization. Leaving this place is the hardest thing to do. I can't describe what this place means to me. I feel very, very lucky to own such a property. I Can't really describe it, so until next time, enjoy some video and more photos and stay tuned for more.....

The beast from 1964

Check some footage of the cat in action...

So cold even the Wolf wants in.

Love this f'n place...

Cup-O-Joe

Home....home on the range

Misty right?

Sunset

Breakfast....

The view from breakfast

Its on the way!

Headed up to the ole Bonnie Bell Cabin to get myself snowed in for a couple of days. STOKED!

Finally....

I like going to the NOAA site and seeing this!

THANK YOU!!

A huge thanks goes out to Marc and Carly at Collective Licensing for a great week of shooting in Summit County. Its nice to get some work done at home for a change! Thanks to Drago too for lugging my gear around all week...

December in Summit County

December has brought the cold weather, but so far no snow. Until then, the snow guns are cranked up full blast. Maybe we'll see this image in a Cold Front slot for next years magazine run?

The Most Interesting Man in Snowboarding...

Superpark Issue now on sale

Some tear sheets from the new issue of SNOWBOARDER Magazine (VOL. 22, Issue 6). Go buy it now!Lonnie Kauk

Scott Blum

Ryan Thompson

Scotty Lago