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Planning Monarch Mountain with kids starts with good news and a scheduling trap, and the trap is the expensive one.
The good news: children 6 and under ski free at Monarch, aside from a $5 lift card each day. Monarch mountain childcare is cheap too. $89 per half day, against $277 to $305 for a full day at Beaver Creek. It can be bundled with a lesson for less than half the price of a standalone private. For older kids, a full-day group lesson with supervised lunch costs $99 flat on every date of the season, holidays included.
The trap is the calendar. Monarch’s cheapest lift tickets are Monday to Thursday. Its childcare runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only, plus specific holiday blocks. So the obvious plan with a small child is to go midweek, pay less, avoid the crowds. But this is the one plan where there’s nowhere to put your three-year-old.
Get that the wrong way round and you either pay standard pricing you hadn’t budgeted for, or spend the week taking turns while skiing Monarch Mountain with kids.
The calendar problem, in one place
Here’s the important catch if you plan to ski Monarch Mountain with kids. Put the two schedules side by side and the conflict is obvious:
| Mon–Thu | Fri–Sun | Peak dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior lift ticket (7–12) | $79 | $109 | $129 |
| Childcare available? | No | Yes | Yes |
Childcare operates Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, plus December 21 to January 3, January 18, February 15, and March 8 to March 26.
Peak ticket dates are December 26 to January 3, February 13–14 and March 14–26. Standard is Friday to Sunday plus December 22–25, January 18 and February 15.
The rule: pick your dates around childcare first, tickets second. If you need care for a child aged 3 to 6, you’re skiing a weekend at standard pricing or a holiday block at peak. If your kids are 7 or older and in lessons instead, midweek at $79 is the better buy, and the $99 lesson price doesn’t change by date anyway.
Monarch’s tubing park follows the same pattern, running Friday to Sunday and holidays, 10am to 4pm, so the entire family-services side of the mountain is weekend-oriented. Don’t forget the tubing essentials for a fun day.
Monarch mountain lift tickets for kids: $5 a day, or $25 for the season
Children 6 and under ski free. You pay $5 for a lift card, each ski day.
But Monarch also sells a $25 “Child” Monarch Only season pass for ages 6 and under, and the math crosses over at five days:
| Days skiing | Pay-per-day at $5 | $25 season pass |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day | $5 | $25 |
| 3 days | $15 | $25 |
| 5 days | $25 | $25 — break even |
| 7 days | $35 | $25 |
| 10 days | $50 | $25 |
If you’ll ski Monarch five or more times this season, buy the $25 pass. Even at exactly five days it’s a wash on money and a win on time, because you skip the ticket-window stop every single morning, which with a four-year-old in boots is worth more than the $5. Below five days, pay as you go.
The pass has no quantity restrictions, so a family with two preschoolers buys two. Age is determined as of November 25, 2026.
For the older kids:
| Price | |
|---|---|
| Ages 6 and under | $5/day, or $25 season pass |
| Junior (7–12), Mon–Thu | $79 |
| Junior (7–12), Fri–Sun | $109 |
| Junior (7–12), peak dates | $129 |
| Junior afternoon only, 12:30–4:00pm | $49 / $69 / $79 |
Monarch’s other brackets are Teen 13–17, Adult 18–61, Senior 62–68 and Super-Seniors 69+. The afternoon-only junior ticket at $49 midweek is worth knowing if you have a young skier who fades after lunch. It costs the same as a half-day group lesson. And Monarch’s online prices are explicitly dynamic and rise with demand, so buy early rather than at the window.
Monarch mountain childcare: The Children’s Center
| Ages | 3–6, potty trained required |
| Half day AM | 9:00am – 12:30pm |
| Half day PM | 12:30pm – 4:00pm |
| Price | $89 per half day, same at standard and peak |
| Full day | Book both halves — lunch included |
| Days | Fri, Sat, Sun + holiday blocks only |
| Reservations | 719.530.5196, 48 hours’ notice to cancel |
At $89 a half day this is among the cheapest licensed ski childcare in Colorado. The constraints are the age minimum of 3, the potty-training requirement, and the days.
The two add-on options
Monarch lets you bundle a lesson with childcare, which is the best-value route onto snow for a preschooler and easy to miss entirely:
| Option | What you get | Standard | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Childcare only | Half day of care | $89 | $89 |
| Childcare + 1.5-hr group lesson | Half day of care plus an intro ski lesson, max 3 children | $138 | $138 |
| Childcare + 1.5-hr private lesson | Half day of care plus a one-on-one lesson | $278 | $293 |
Now compare that to buying a lesson on its own: a standalone Child Private is $299 to $399 for 2.5 hours, with no childcare attached.
So $138 buys you a half day of care and a lesson for less than half the cost of a private alone. That is the single best-value way to get a three-, four-, five- or six-year-old skiing at Monarch, and it’s the recommendation I’d make to almost every family with a preschooler here.
Two caveats worth knowing: the group lesson is an intro to skiing only, so it’s for genuine first-timers rather than a child who already slides, and the group is capped at three children – small, but it means it can fill. Note also that the group add-on costs $138 on both standard and peak days, while only the private add-on rises at peak.
If you are skiing Monarch Mountain with kids, neither add-on includes a lift ticket or rentals. For a child 6 or under that’s the $5 card or the $25 pass, so the ticket side is nearly free either way.
Monarch ski school: where the value is, and isn’t
The Monarch ski school pricing is lopsided in a way worth understanding before you book. Group lessons for school-age kids are a bargain. Anything standalone for a preschooler is a private, priced like one – which is exactly why the $138 childcare bundle above matters.
| Program | Ages | Format | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior Full Day Group | 7–12 | 9:30am–3:30pm · 5 hrs instruction + supervised lunch | $99, flat every date |
| Junior Half Day Group | 7–12 | 2.5 hrs · beginners only, green terrain | $49, flat every date |
| Child Private | 3–6 | 2.5 hrs · 9:30am or 1:00pm | $299–$399 |
| Mini + Me | 3–6 | 2.5 hrs · instructor teaches child and coaches you | $299–$399 |
| Junior Full Day Private | 7–12 | 5 hrs + 1 hr supervised lunch | $519–$589 |
| Youth Camp | 7–16 | 11:30am–4:00pm, Jan 2–3 | $179 |
$99 for a full day with supervised lunch, flat on every date including holidays, is the best group-lesson value we’ve found in Colorado. Beaver Creek’s peak day runs around $650 and doesn’t include a lift ticket either. The catch is simply the age floor: group lessons start at 7.
Under 7, your options are the childcare bundles above or a full private. Mini + Me is the interesting private. The instructor works with your child while coaching you, so you can keep teaching them all week. It requires that the adult can already “capably slide, stop, turn and ride a chair lift.”
There’s also a three-pack of afternoon privates for $777, restricted to 1:00pm starts, blacked out on peak dates and non-transferable. Passholders get $20 off a half- or full-day private.
Lift tickets and rentals are not included in any lesson or program when skiing Monarch Mountain with kids.
Multi-week programs, if you’re local
If you’re within range for repeat Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays, the multi-week programs beat single-day privates for young kids, and they pair naturally with the $25 season pass:
- Caterpillars, ages 3–4 — 9:30am–12:00pm, six weeks × 2.5 hrs, $509
- Butterflies, ages 5–6 — 1:00–3:30pm, six weeks, $509. Snowboarders Saturdays only, and it requires an experienced accompanying adult
- Adventurers, ages 7–16 — 11:30am–4:00pm, six weeks × 4.5 hrs, $549
Six weeks run January 8 to February 21, with a two-week extension February 26 to March 7 for an extra $160–$180. A season pass is not included, and pre-registration closed November 3, 2026.
Altitude: Monarch is higher than most people expect
Monarch’s base sits at 10,727 feet, with the summit at 11,952. That base is higher than the summit of several Front Range ski areas.
Salida, where most families stay, is 7,083 feet – so you climb about 3,650 feet each morning and sleep low, which is generally the easier way round. If anyone in your family is sensitive to altitude, plan a gentle first day and pack the skin and hydration essentials for staying at high altitudes.
Where to stay near Monarch Mountain
Salida is the answer. 20 miles east, and a genuinely good family base with hot springs, restaurants and a walkable downtown. Monarch also points visitors to Buena Vista and Gunnison, plus the smaller communities of Poncha Springs, Maysville, Garfield and Nathrop.
This is a trip, not a day outing from the Front Range. The drive is windy. Be prepared with these drive through the mountains essentials. I’d suggest booking accommodations closest to Monarch. The less time spent in the car driving, gaining thousands of feet of elevation and winding through mountains is a good choice.
Poncha Springs: Distance ~15–16 miles. Poncha Springs sits between Salida and the mountain, so it’s the closest of the four.
Book a place to stay in Poncha Springs.
Salida: Distance 20 miles. An obvious choice if you are going straight to Monarch every morning. Great walkable town with lots to do including restaurants and hot springs.
Book a place to stay in Salida.
Gunnison: Distance ~35–40 miles, about 48 minutes. Gunnison is on the far side of Monarch Pass. From Gunnison you drive over the pass at about 11,300 feet, twice a day, in winter, with kids in the car. A family comparing a cheaper Gunnison rental against a Salida one should know what they’re signing up for.
Book a place to stay in Gunnison.
Buena Vista: Distance ~38–40 miles. It’s the furthest by road and doesn’t win on price the way Gunnison sometimes does, but it’s a genuinely nice town in its own right and it’s the base you’d pick if you wanted to split days between Monarch and Cottonwood Pass-side activities.
Book a place to stay in Buena Vista.
Keep planning
Comparing resorts first? Colorado ski resorts ranked for families with toddlers – ski school ages, childcare minimums and kids’ ticket policies for all 16, in one table.
Weighing the big names instead? Vail vs. Beaver Creek for families covers why Vail has no childcare at all. If your youngest is under a year, Keystone and Breckenridge take infants from six months. And if cost is the deciding factor, Loveland takes walking one-year-olds for $105 a day.
Other guides: Steamboat · Beaver Creek · Vail · Copper Mountain · Winter Park · Breckenridge · Keystone · Purgatory · Loveland
Before you go: the warmest ski base layers for kids · our family ski trip essentials · the ski school drop-off packing list · our ski drying kit · essentials for a baby on the ski mountain · baby and toddler sleep essentials · essentials for the drive to the mountains · skin and altitude kit for kids
