SALIDA, Colo. — Every winter, thousands of people ride up the chairlifts at Monarch Mountain. Monarch has a dedicated team of nearly 60 people each season who make sure the lifts stay operational.
Each morning, lift operators arrive before the skiers and snowboarders to start spinning the chairlift. They use a control panel to start, stop, and change the lift's speed.
“Well the lift operator came out, he has three attendants," said Robert Clarkson, Lift Operations Supervisor at Monarch Mountain. "Normally, it's on to duties, gets the lift ready to go, the maze ready to go."
Clarkson said typically, three to four people work at each lift. Monarch Mountain has fewer than ten chairlifts.
“We use our rakes to groom and pack in our dips and ruts, that keeps everything flat and uniform all the way to the load and they don't have to worry about anything but a good flat groom surface to get to the chair,” said Clarkson.
With smooth lines and a complete maze, the next step for the lifties is waking up the big wheel, which spins the chairlift.
“Once the lift is ready to go, we'll send the guy up at about 8:30 and get the top ready, at 9:00 the gate starts working and we start having fun,” Clarkson said.
Tumbelina is one of the lifts at Monarch.
“This is our beginner lift," said Clarkson. "So, it's being held up by about 30,000 pounds of counterweight tumbling ahead of our last counterweight, and that's why we covered it with this building, so we don't shuffle it out. All of our other lifts are tensioned by hydraulics and those are checked daily by the mechanics to make sure that we've got proper tension and proper spacing.”
Clarkson said his job starts and ends with safety, and he has worked at Monarch for seven seasons.
“I operated the caterpillar lift for four and a half years,” said Clarkson.
The caterpillar lift is also known as a magic carpet for beginners.
“We work really closely with... kids who are learning, they actually make it look stupid easy," said Clarkson. "The adults struggle a lot."
He said kids will learn how to ski on the caterpillar before graduating to the main chairlifts.
“When they go by on a chairlift, we know we've done our job on the beginner hill and that the future is secure,” said Clarkson.
His favorite part of the job is seeing the same kids winter after winter. When he is not taking runs with visitors, Clarkson makes sure all the lifties are getting breaks for lunch and can take a run.
“If it's a slow day like this, we let our guys clock out for an hour and go have some fun riding,” said Clarkson.
He said their goal is for families and visitors to be safe while they are having fun skiing.
“Just know, when you come to Monarch and you see anyone in the lift-off uniform, we are here for you," said Clarkson. "And we will do anything to make sure you have a great time and that your safety is first and foremost in our minds above and beyond everything else."
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