You could call it a golden ticket (or 20) to Monarch Mountain's legendary backcountry, because every year Never Summer pimps out their customers by raffling off a two day pow shredding cat mission to anyone who bought one of their boards. Awesome? Our thoughts exactly. So, when we got the call to go for a day we dropped everything we were doing, which wasn't much, and drove three hours from Boulder for one hell of a day.

Monarch has quite possibly the best cat tours in the great state of Colorado. With over 1,000 acres of rideable terrain and a vertical drop of 900+ feet per run, this place could be one of our favorites. Only 12 people are allowed in the cat per day, so you never feel like you're dodging kooks while dropping in on some serious powder. Outfitted with BCA Tracker beacons, we headed out.

ns_monarch-21.jpgYou never really know what you're going to get when you head out into the backcountry after a huge storm and high winds hit the area. But, Monarch's guides crushed it as we rode some intense terrain. The snow was variable in spots but the majority of the runs had some deep pow. Once we hit the trees we were convinced we were in heaven. All the snow from the previous day's storm had blown into the trees making for pillow-like conditions as you cruised through perfectly spaced trees.

The day couldn't have been more perfect as every rider was charging. Kids were jumping off of anything they could find. Huge cornice drops made for a fun start to the runs as you gained speed down the ridge and snapped off the top to a steep pow landing. Shit, we could do that all day!

If you're ever looking for an solid cat tour in Colorado you should head to Monarch.

A huge thanks to both Never Summer and Monarch for a killer time. We will definitely be back next year. If you want to get in on the action for next year, look out for the raffle ticket, accompanied by every Never Summer snowboard purchase.