Peaks and Valleys: Behind Colorado’s Monarch Mountain

Imagine a ski resort that’s endured for nearly a century, deeply embedded in the heart and soul of a community. This isn’t a place defined by flashy amenities or extravagant hotels. Rather, it's known for authenticity, affordability, and genuinely good skiing. That place is Monarch Mountain.

Founded in 1939, it’s Colorado’s second-oldest ski resort and one of few independent, locally owned ski areas left in the state. Monarch represents skiing as it was meant to be: simple, accessible, and rooted deeply in community. As Monarch’s Eva Egbert puts it: “Our priorities have always been community and the joy of skiing.”

But, behind its no-frills charm is a capital-intensive and complex financial ecosystem—one that demands both precision and partnership—and one that plays a key role in the area’s social, cultural, and economic wellbeing.

 

 

No frills. Just fresh powder, friendly faces, and 85 years of hometown ski tradition.

 

A Legacy Carved into the Slopes

Running through south-central Colorado, it’s the stunning backdrop of the eclectic, historic town of Salida. With a roughly 1,100-foot vertical drop and roughly 800 skiable acres, it’s modest in size compared to other Colorado favorites. Its location is prime. Part of the Rocky Mountains’ Sawatch Range, Monarch sits directly on the eastern slope of the Continental Divide, where storms batter it with snow as they move east over the pass—more than 350 inches annually, in fact!

 

Steeped in snow and story: Monarch’s slopes have seen generations glide.

 

Monarch Mountain’s charm lies in its intentional simplicity and rich history. “Generations have learned to ski here,” says Eva. She is kind-spirited and eager to share Monarch with the community it serves. She’s originally from Slovakia, where she earned a Ph.D in public administration, but was lured to Colorado’s Aspen Valley by the snowfall and skiing conditions.

“It’s a place so unique: a place of family tradition and community,” she says.

While Salida is a town of merely 5,000 permanent residents, sector data show the mountain attracts upwards of 220,000 visitors annually, serving as a key economic engine for the region. Along with the county’s local medical center, Monarch Mountain is among the region’s top employers, providing jobs for roughly four to five hundred employees in peak season.

Committed to affordability, Monarch ensures skiing remains accessible through reasonably priced lift tickets, free ski days for kids, and budget-friendly youth programs. Monarch also hosts cherished community events like the Town Challenge (a friendly, season-long competition) and Ski Ballet, which showcases skiers performing creative, choreographed routines on the slopes. “These events aren’t about profits,” Eva explains. “They're about community-building, camaraderie, and tradition.”

Indeed, running a ski resort, especially one deeply committed to community, is not without its obstacles.

 

The Town Challenge: where locals race for bragging rights.

 

Financial & Operational Complexity

Seasonal businesses relying heavily on local and national tourism—like ski resorts—face unique and sometimes challenging capital demands, ranging from equipment maintenance and infrastructure development to staffing fluctuations that require precise financial planning. Like other mainstays in the hospitality industry, ski resorts must manage large, fluctuating capital expenditures. And then there are the elements that can’t be controlled: unpredictable weather patterns, snowfall, terrain safety and avalanche risk, fluctuating insurance costs, and changing regulations.

“It’s a complex operation,” explains Collegiate Peak’s Bank’s Cammeron Larson. He’s been working with the folks at Monarch for years as their primary banker, but his connection to the mountain runs much deeper.

Cam grew up on these slopes, skiing with his grandfather, a ski patroller. “I’ve got pictures of myself as a kid skiing between his legs,” he says, behind an endearingly large mustache. He’s calm and warm: the kind of person you immediately feel like you’ve known your whole life. When in college, Cam had the chance to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and join Monarch’s ski patrol for some time. “Monarch has always had a special place in my heart.”

 

From patrol gear to portfolio guidance—Cam’s roots at Monarch run deep.

 

Cam’s tenured history with the operation, both business and personal, gives him a unique vantage point into the resort’s operational rhythms and financial needs. It’s the kind of uniquely deep relationship that’s not uncommon among Collegiate Peaks’ commercial lending team, which serves businesses across a broad range of industries, markets, and growth stages.

Monarch relies on Collegiate Peaks Bank to keep many of its day-to-day financial operations running smoothly. A user-friendly commercial banking setup ensures Monarch’s accounting team is able to execute accounts payable runs (which can be substantial during peak season).

The team also takes advantage of a number of fraud prevention services, including Positive Pay, which creates significant time-savings while also helping mitigate fraud. The service, provided by Collegiate Peaks Bank, helps businesses protect against check fraud by matching checks used for payments against a list of checks issued by the business. If there’s a mismatch, the bank flags it for the business to review before releasing funds.

“The online system is incredibly user-friendly,” says Monarch’s accountant, Aiden Warner, noting the value of having everything easily accessible in one, reliable place. “We simply upload our accounting files, and Collegiate Peaks ensures secure, reliable transactions and immediate fraud alerts if discrepancies arise.”

Even when things don’t go as planned, Cam and the team at Collegiate Peaks are responsive and accessible. Like recently, when Monarch urgently needed to complete a vehicle purchase. Due to a clerical oversight, an ACH transfer intended for immediate processing was mistakenly scheduled for the following day, leaving an employee stranded at a dealership in Denver.

“I was definitely stressed,” recalls Aiden. “But I called Cam, and he was just incredibly calm. He quickly offered multiple solutions, even directly contacting the dealership to resolve the issue.” It’s the kind of above-and-beyond service the entire lending team is known for. “Having someone available like that is just so invaluable”

The relationship has also seen bigger challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Monarch (like many community attractions), saw multiple waves of closures, capacity restrictions, staffing shortages, and logistical difficulties. It was a time marked by extraordinary pressure on cashflows, employee morale, and day-to-day operations—and one that required the organization to retool cashflows and expenditures.