The skiing is enough at Colorado’s Monarch Mountain

STANDING AT THE TOP of what will be our last run of the day, Ryan Kempfer and I feel as if we are alone on the mountain. Not lonely—just alone. The wind has stopped; the trees are quiet. Temperatures have risen to 11 degrees—the warmest all weekend—and we have a crisp, unobstructed view of Colorado's Sawatch Mountains set against a cobalt backdrop.

We spent the morning lapping the mile-long run under a fixed double at least 10 times before noon, linking tight turns through steep glades. First and foremost a skier, Kempfer, 37, is the base services manager at Monarch Mountain, a 77-year-old ski area 100 miles south of Summit County. He admits he has a hard time remembering his title. He's in charge of things like ice removal and directing cars in the free parking lot, but when I met him the day before, he was on his way to help ski patrol with end-of-day sweeps. That's how