Winter Van Life: Monarch Mountain
When We Tried to Visit: February 2020
Unexpected events prevented us from skiing Monarch Mountain. Upon arriving in the local town of Salida, we scoped out the mountain, stocked up on groceries, and stayed a night at the closest RV park. But the next morning, we woke up too cold.
Before arriving, our diesel heater stopped working in our Winnebago Revel near Montrose, Colorado. Fortunately, we had an option to produce electric heat. It just meant sticking to RV parks or campgrounds with an electric hookup. Our plan was to keep touring the country until a scheduled appointment to fix our diesel heater at Agile Off-Road in Santee, California about a month later.
Our first stop after the diesel heater blew up near Montrose was Monarch. But the electric option wasn’t keeping up with single-digit temperatures plus wind chill. We decided to put our skiing on hold and take a huge detour to Sandy, Oregon. Rixen’s could fix our diesel heater ASAP. The good news was that Sandy is very close to Timberline and Mt. Hood Skibowl, and our 2019/20 Loveland season passes came with three days of riding at each.
We missed several inches of powder at Monarch, and I got to read about how awesome it was on someone else’s blog that I can’t find now. A few strangers had told us they are very fond of Monarch, so we will have to revisit another season.
We passed by Monarch again in April 2023 when downhill operations had already ended but uphill access was still allowed. They appeared to have perfect coverage. Uphill travel is permitted with a paid pass while the snow lasts according to their website.
Plan Your RV/Van Life Road Trip to Monarch Mountain
skimonarch.com
23715 West US Highway 50, Salida, CO 81201
(719) 530-5000
info@skimonarch.com
Pass affiliations: Loveland Ski Area 2023/24, Ski Cooper 2023/24
Lift Hours: Daily 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. See Monarch’s Hours + Stats page for more information.
Mountain Stats
- Average annual snowfall: 350 inches
- Total skiable terrain: 800 acres
- Lift-accessible terrain: 670 acres
- Hiking access terrain: 130 acres
- Guided backcountry terrain: 1,635 acres
- Vertical drop: 1,162 feet
Driving to Monarch
US-50 coming from the west to Monarch Mountain is very curvy and steep in sections with a limited shoulder and no guard rail. Coming from the east is less scary, but it’s not flat or straight.
Parking at Monarch
We arrived in town on Saturday of Presidents’ Day weekend in 2020. When we drove through the parking lot to check it out that afternoon, it was pretty packed as expected. We would’ve parked in what seemed to be the flattest area in front of the Tumbelina lift if we had gone back.
Working Remotely at Monarch
In February 2020, AT&T cell service fluctuated between no service and a single bar throughout Monarch’s parking lot. We checked again in April 2023 and cell service was still unreliable. We would have to set up our Starlink.
Where to Sleep in Your Van/RV
Monarch Mountain does not allow overnight RV camping. There is a sign to this effect posted on their lodge.
Salida / Mt. Shavano KOA – 10.7 miles / 15 minutes in Salida – This KOA is exposed and consistently windy. I didn’t think that the bathhouse facilities were too far from sites, but we observed a few people driving there. They were likely trying to avoid the wind and cold. When I checked in, the man working the front desk even gave me driving instructions to the showers as though it was a common occurrence. It’s too much effort to prepare the van for driving a short distance, so I was fine with bundling up for the walk.
The RV park was far from full occupancy for it being Presidents’ Day weekend.
A lot of mud got tracked into the restrooms since the RV park was unpaved. Otherwise, they seemed clean, and the showers were hot.
AT&T cell service worked great. We could text, email, and stream entertainment without any issues.
Salida RV Resort – 22.9 miles / 30 minutes in Salida – This is a new luxury RV resort that we discovered driving from Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park to Vail in April 2023. It’s the most modern RV park we’ve stayed at in almost 5 years living on the road with its use of personal access codes for after hours use of the clubhouse, and washers and dryers that have an Apple Pay option. Since it’s open year-round, we’ll stay here on a future visit to Monarch Mountain.
We last paid $60 for a full-hookup back-in site with a view of the Arkansas River and the surrounding mountains. All sites are gravel.
They have a gorgeous clubhouse with a cozy-looking lounge area, kitchen if you want to cook outside of your rig, fitness center with free weights (which I love!), and a pool table.
The laundry facilities were immaculate and the machines take quarters, credit card, or Apple Pay.
The bathrooms with showers were spotless. I only wished the showers were private. There are two showers each for the men and women, and their only privacy is the shower curtain. There isn’t a separate space for undressing or to put your clothes back on with privacy. The set up is similar to that of a recreation center. They do offer lockers for keeping your items secure while you are showering.
Alternately, you can use the family restroom that has its own toilet, sink, and shower.
Outside they have a dog park and walking trail along the river.
AT&T cell service works well here. We didn’t have any issues texting, emailing, browsing online, and streaming entertainment. The RV resort also offers free WiFi, but we didn’t use it.
Salida RV Resort participates in Harvest Hosts new CampersCard. A CampersCard gives members discounts at participating RV parks and campgrounds, as well as other travel perks, for an annual fee.
Unfortunately, the CampersCard site did not state any discount restrictions for Salida RV Resort, so I was under the impression that we should’ve received a discount in which we were not eligible. However, the RV resort was super sweet to honor the discount I was expecting, and I’ll reach out to Harvest Hosts and ask them to update their site. CampersCard is very new and they likely just need to work out some kinks. In the future, I will call the campground or RV park ahead of time to verify their discount rules before booking.
Conveniences Near Monarch
The local town of Salida is a half hour east of Monarch. It’s not a large city, but it should have most everything you need including a Safeway (G St), Natural Grocers, and Walmart. If you need a water refill station, Safeway has one in the far right corner of the store near the restrooms.
Otherwise, other larger cities include Montrose (2 hours west), Colorado Springs (2.5 hours east), and Alamosa (1.5 hours south). You can also head north about 2 hours to communities along I-70.
Closest Ski Areas to Monarch
- Crested Butte (Epic Pass 2023/24) – 73.5 miles / 1.5 hours in Crested Butte
- Ski Cooper (Powder Alliance 2023/24) – 82.8 miles / 1.5 hours in Leadville
- Breckenridge (Epic Pass 2023/24) – 93.7 miles / 1.75 hours in Breckenridge
- Copper Mountain (Ikon Pass 2023/24, Monarch Mountain 2023/24) – 97.6 miles / 1.75 hours in Frisco
