A different climate position
Five hundred feet of elevation is not a rounding error on the Front Range. Fountain runs warmer than Colorado Springs proper and considerably warmer than Monument or Black Forest, with a longer growing season and fewer hard freeze-thaw cycles. That does not mean base preparation stops mattering — expansive clay soils turn up in parts of El Paso County regardless of elevation — but it does mean the honest recommendation here is more often the Solid tier than it is up on the Divide.
