A delightful, widely-spaced glade.

Statistics

87

m

300

m

35

max°

Difficulty

FATMAP difficulty grade

Difficult

Description

On the official map for Mirkwood Basin, Monarch Mountain simply labels the entire northern, south-facing ridge of the basin as “Elation Ridge,” and then leaves it at that.

With that amount of minimal marking, you’re pretty much on your own to find the best line down the ridge.

Here, I’ve chosen to break Elation into four different lines: [Elation Ridge Trees](https://fatmap.com/routeid/785522/@38.5216061,-106.3397973,978.3458401,-51.4826056,-57.2380553,3544.9629953,normal), [Elation Ridge 1](https://fatmap.com/routeid/785532/Elation_Ridge_1/@38.5229734,-106.3400278,1182.8262014,-14.3861199,-56.3140095,3493.7640761,normal), [Elation Ridge 2](https://fatmap.com/routeid/785535/Elation_Ridge_2/@38.5204218,-106.3384513,2365.9512337,-20.0000000,-56.3140095,3530.3001130,normal), and [Elation Ridge Cliffs](https://fatmap.com/routeid/785537/@38.5216061,-106.3397973,978.3458401,-51.4826056,-57.2380553,3544.9629953,normal). Elation Trees is located just after crossing through the rope gate onto Elation Ridge proper.

Take a right, and drop into the widely-spaced trees paralleling Orcs down the mountain.

One bonus of dropping Elation Trees is that a second hike isn't required, whereas Elation 2 and Elation Cliffs both require a second short hike to reach a secondary knob. Elation Trees tend to hold fantastic snow, and the wide tree spacing allows skiers to kick the speed up with little regard for consequences.

About halfway down, begin to keep an eye out for small cliff bands that crop up.

There are a few spines and small senders, and about 3/4 of the way down, you'll have to negotiate the same short, steep cliff band found on Orcs.

Generally, these cliffs fill in and are skiable, but at times the snow conditions can necessitate careful line selection to thread through this slightly more technical zone, especially if you haven't skied it before.