Badger Pass Ski Area is a small ski area located within

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

. Badger Pass is one of only three lift serviced ski areas operating in a US National Park ( Hurricane Ridge Ski and Snowboard Area in

Olympic National Park Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier ...

and Boston Mills/Brandywine Ski Resort in the

Cuyahoga Valley National Park Cuyahoga Valley National Park is an American national park that preserves and reclaims the rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland in Northeast Ohio. The park is administered by the National Park Service, but within ...

are the others). It is situated five miles (8 km) south-southeast of the Chinquapin intersection of Wawona Road (HWY 41 continuation) with Glacier Point Road in the southern area of Yosemite National Park. Glacier Point Road provides the access to this ski area. During high snow level and/or ski season, Glacier Point road terminates at Badger Pass Ski Resort. Under these conditions, the remainder of Glacier Point Road is used for cross-country skiing access to Glacier Point and other destinations in the high country.

Location

Badger Pass is at about in elevation at the restaurant and services buildings. At the summit of the downhill ski lifts, elevations rise to . The nearest community to Badger Pass is Yosemite West. The skiing area provides 10 runs and 5 lifts with downhill, snow tubing and snow boarding facilities. There are also training areas with instructors for beginners and novices that need "brushing up". A snow tubing area has been added near the cross-country equipment rental area. For safety reasons, this area is "roped off" so that skiers can not enter the area. In addition to the downhill facilities, there are extensive cross-country skiing and snowshoe trails. In fact this is one of the highlights of the Badger Pass/Yosemite National Park winter activities. There are over of trails encompassing many of the tourist sites in Yosemite. In addition, two overnight huts are available for extended winter trips into the wilderness.

History

The history of winter sports in

is unique. Following the building of the

Ahwahnee Hotel The Ahwahnee Hotel is a grand hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley. It was built by the Yosemite Park and Curry Company and opened for business in 1927. The hotel is constructed of steel, stone, concre ...

in 1925–1927, came Yosemite’s first ski school in 1928 with Jules Fritsch as instructor. Fritsch, a Swiss ski expert was part of a trained staff of winter sports experts available in Yosemite. Fritsch and the staff led six-day snow excursions in Yosemite from the Ahwahnee to Tenaya Lake to bolster the ski school. Many believe this ski school was the first in California. In conjunction with the Curry Company, one of the first projects was the 1927 construction of a four-track toboggan slide near Camp Curry. Dr.

Donald Tresidder Donald Bertrand Tresidder (April 7, 1894 – January 28, 1948) was the fourth president of Stanford University, serving from 1943 until his sudden death in 1948. He also had a longtime association with Yosemite National Park. Early life Son of J ...

, the first president the Yosemite Park & Curry Company and its guiding force, saw the visitor interest in winter sports and immediately formed the Yosemite Winter Club. With the club’s enthusiast support, a small ski hill and ski jump near Tenaya Creek Bridge was built in 1928. With the interest building in Yosemite for winter sports, and the Olympics selecting Los Angeles as the site for the summer games for 1932, Tresidder teamed up with William Garland, president of the Steering Committee of the Plays of Los Angeles to promote Yosemite for winter sports for the Olympics of 1932. Lake Placid was selected instead. This did not diminish the interest in winter sports in Yosemite, but rather intensified it. Tresidder could see the need for real facilities in Yosemite for winter sports. A lift was built in 1933 but it was not at the Ahwahnee but at Badger Pass some miles away. The first slalom in California was held in 1933 at Badger Pass. With the lingering effects of The Great Depression and the difficult road access to Badger Pass, the need for an easier route to the high country slowed further development. The

History of the Yosemite area Human habitation in the Sierra Nevada region of California reaches back 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. Historically attested Native American populations, such as the Sierra Miwok, Mono and Paiute, belong to the Uto-Aztecan and Utian phyla. In the mi ...

depicts the building of the tunnel as follows: "The completion of the 0.8 mile (1.3 km) long Wawona Tunnel in 1933 was both an engineering marvel and significantly reduced the amount of travel time to the Valley from Wawona without scarring the landscape with a long road cut (the famous '

Tunnel View Tunnel View is a scenic viewpoint on California State Route 41 in Yosemite National Park. Visitors have seen and documented the iconic and expansive views of Yosemite Valley from the overlook since its opening in 1933. The large viewpoint area ...

' is on the Valley side of the tunnel and Inspiration Point is above it)." After the Wawona Road and Tunnel opened in late 1933 and Glacier Point Road to Badger Pass opened in 1935, Yosemite's first ski lodge was built in Monroe Meadow, and by the end of the season Badger Pass had welcomed more than 25,000 skiers. The West's first ski lift, called the Upski, was installed in 1936. Nicknamed the “Queen Mary,” it was a large sled that moved up and down the hill on a cable, carrying six skiers at a time up to the summit. Also with completion of the new Wawona Road and tunnel, visitors began to use the Chinquapin area for skiing as well as the Badger Pass slope. Because of the poor condition of the Glacier Point road, the Yosemite Park and Curry Company became interested in installing the cable tramway as a means of getting skiers to the south rim. Gradually valley floor winter activities faded and skiers concentrated on Badger Pass and the high country, especially after improvement of the Glacier Point road afforded greater accessibility to that area. Due to a naming rights dispute in which outgoing concessionaire Delaware North Parks and Resorts claimed to own the names of several Yosemite locations as intellectual property, Badger Pass was renamed "Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area" effective March 1, 2016. The resort regained its historic name on July 15, 2019, when a legal settlement was reached.

Badger Pass today

Today, the Badger Pass Ski Area provides a public venue for both downhill and snowboarding activities. It is operated for the National Park Service by the current concessionaire,

Aramark Aramark Corporation, known commonly as Aramark, is an American food service, facilities, and uniform services provider to clients in areas including education, healthcare, business, prisons, and leisure. It operates in North America (United S ...

. One of the major features of the area is the restored Badger Pass Day Lodge, which houses the Snowflake Room. From this pub visitors can view the 10 down-hill runs and the 5 lifts. The Lodge no longer has overnight accommodations and is for day use only. Food concessions and an activities desk are located on the lower level of the lodge. Several ski schools, catering to both beginners and advanced skiers, operate on the slopes. In addition, cross-country skiing is available for those visitors interested in a back country experience. With instructors and guides available, Yosemite provides of groomed cross-country track and marked trails. For the cross-country skier there are more than of skiing lanes. These are located along a groomed portion of Glacier Point road. Equipment for cross-country skiing can be rented by the day from the ski rental department on the bottom floor of the lodge. It is a round-trip from Badger Pass to Glacier Point. The views of Half Dome in winter are spectacular. The National Park Service, in conjunction with The Yosemite Association, provides webcams of the vistas along this route. A guided ski trip on intermediate groomed terrain leads to the Glacier Point Ski Hut. This overnight trip affords snow-covered vistas of

Half Dome Half Dome is a granite dome at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smoo ...

and

Vernal Falls Vernal Fall is a waterfall on the Merced River just downstream of Nevada Fall in Yosemite National Park, California. Like its upstream neighbor, Vernal Fall is clearly visible at a distance, from Glacier Point, as well as close up, along the Mi ...

from Glacier Point. Badger Pass hosts the annual Yosemite Nordic Holiday, a series of cross-country races held every February.

Gallery

File:Badger-pass-slopes-1.jpg, Ski Slopes at Dusk File:Badger-pass-slopes-3.jpg, Ski lift to lowest summit File:cross-country-skiing-2-5.jpg, Glacier Point Road File:cross-country-skiing-2-6.jpg, Backpackers on overnight File:cross-country-skiing-2-7.jpg, Cross-country skiing File:Taking_a_break_from_cross-country_skiing_at_Badger_Pass.jpg, Woman making a snow angel File:dewey_point_trail.jpg, Backcounty snow trail to Dewey Point File:Alex_age_2.jpg, Cross-country skiing near Badger Pass Image:Badgerpassdaylodge.jpg, Badger Pass day lodge

References

External links