Monarch Mountain Cuts Season Short as Colorado Snowpack Crisis Forces Early Closures

Multiple Colorado resorts abandon their season plans as minimal snowfall forces unprecedented closures

Monarch Mountain will shut its lifts this Sunday after what operators are calling a historically poor snow season. The ski area had planned to operate through 12 April but will instead close three weeks early, joining at least six other Colorado resorts forced to pull the pin on their seasons ahead of schedule. It's the kind of closure announcement that's become uncomfortably frequent as the 2025-26 Northern Hemisphere season winds down, and it raises some obvious questions about snow reliability in the region.

The damage across Colorado

The list of early closures reads like a roll call of Colorado's smaller operations. Ski Cooper near Leadville managed just over 100 days before closing last Sunday - it typically runs through early to mid-April. Sunlight Mountain in Glenwood Springs and Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs both closed the same day. Telluride and Purgatory, both in the southwest, have announced 5 April as their closing date.

Even Steamboat Ski Resort, one of the state's larger operations, has moved its closing forward by a week to 12 April. That's particularly notable given these bigger resorts have more resources to work with - snowmaking capacity, grooming fleets, and the financial incentive to stay open as long as physically possible.

Who's still standing

Breckenridge hasn't shifted from its projected 10 May closing date, which says something about either its snowfall, its snowmaking infrastructure, or both. Wolf Creek Ski Area in the southwest currently has 90% of its terrain open, which makes sense given it typically receives more natural snow than most Colorado resorts. These outliers don't change the broader picture though - this has been a rough season by any measure.

Monarch's farewell program

To Monarch's credit, they're at least trying to send off the season with some dignity. The final week features daily costume themes - tie-dye Tuesday, western Wednesday, and so on through to an 'anything PG goes' Sunday. There's a Ski Patrol Appreciation Day on Friday with live music scheduled for the weekend, and a 'Gunbarrel Challenge' event on closing day. The Khen/Monarch Ski Ballet won't happen this year, which given the circumstances is hardly surprising.

What's worth noting here is the pattern. When smaller resorts start dropping like this, it's not just about one area having a bad year - it's a systemic snow supply issue across the region. These operations don't have the luxury of massive snowmaking systems or the financial buffer to operate at a loss just to maintain their scheduled closing dates.

The resort's website will have daily terrain updates for anyone still planning to visit this week, though at this point you'd want to be managing your expectations pretty carefully. As for next season, well, that's eleven months away and anyone's guess.