Mirkwood at Monarch Mountain

My first time skiing Monarch Mountain's gated hike to terrain, Mirkwood. There are several extreme double black diamond run as well as a black diamond run that can be accessed though the gate.
Monarch is less busy than a lot of the other ski resorts in the area so I was able to make some fresh tracks in the afternoon. The snow was a bit heavy and crusty but it was pretty good overall.
Filmed on March 23, 2023 with a GoPro Hero 10.

[@n.i.carpenter8239]

Nice vid, thank you. Hoping to go for the first time this weekend. Looks like ORKS is a good starting point. Do you agree

[@allenskis]

Orcs is probably one of the easiest doubles black diamonds in Mirkwood. Could be a good first choice among double black diamonds.

[@reybrooks7339]

are they hard?

[@PopeJackI]

That's what I want to know. Was up at Monarch yesterday, groomers were packed and hard. Wanting to grow into a skillset where I can get more powder and a different experience. Trying to understand from the video why the "trails" are marked diamond and double diamond. Assume it's way steeper than it looks? Or trees count as obstacles, or some combo thereof?

[@allenskis]

Supposedly GoPros make everything look less steep than it is. This is according to many people who watch a video and then go up there themselves only to find it to be a bit more intimidating. I think it might be a combination of the unnaturally wide FOV of the GoPro, the lack feedback from your inner ear, and sometimes just the fact that nothing really looks scary on camera. I'm not really affected by this perception anymore because I've watched enough of my own videos that my sense of steepness has become calibrated, but I remember thinking things looks less steep on camera when I got my first GoPro about 5 years ago. These double black diamonds in Mirkwood aren't particularly intimidating compared to some at other resorts like Arapahoe Basin, but they are still fairly steep. None of them are groomed either, and I can't think of a single resort where a fairly steep ungroomed run would be considered a blue square. I would say that the double black diamonds are on the easier side compared to other double black diamonds in Colorado.

[@reybrooks7339]

Hey I’m back, we went there, they kicked me off Mirkwood bc they closed it right when I got tot the top and I wasn’t allowed to ski down. I saw orcs it didn’t look too hard, but is it actually hard?