Cat skiing at Monarch Mountain is unlike skiing anywhere else. You'll cover more terrain than entire resorts have (1,000+ acres) and see more variety than most resorts have (chutes, steeps, bowls, trees, glades, the list goes on). Plus there are only 11 other people to share it all with.

You can rent the full Cat for $2,500 during regular season and stick 12 of your best friends (and best skiers) in there or rent an individual seat for $250. The Cat will take anywhere from 9-12 runs covering an average of 900 vertical feet per run. When we went, we took about 13 runs with a maximum of 1,300 vertical feet for one run. Request your guides to bump it up and you won't be disappointed.

The day starts promptly at 8:30am where your guides (probably two of them) hand out beacons, make you sign waivers, and explain rules and guidelines. You'll then hitch a ride on the Breezeway chairlift to the base of Mirkwood Basin to meet the Cat. The pictures taken in this slideshow are from a January 18 trip right at the end of a storm cycle, before another storm cycle.

Word to the Wise: Rent some fat skis. You'll need them.