WOMAN: My favorite season is definitely winter
and the key to having winter be fun in Yosemite
is to get out, I think, on skis and get out and explore.
It's a great way to get out and get some exercise you can get to all kinds of really cool places.
It's like the winter equivalent of going for a walk except more fun because
you get to slide around.
MAN: When the landscape's covered in snow
it opens up a lot of terrain to backcountry travelling.
In the summertime, we get used to hiking trails
because that's often the path of least resistance
but once it gets buried in snow,
you don't need a trail. You can travel over just about any terrain.
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WOMAN: You start skiing, you don't see that many people.
It's amazing to get some place like this on skis.
You're in the city, you're in your life, you're at your job, you're with your kids.
You know, you have to break away and drive and be on skis.
A million excuses on why I can't do it and then you do it and then you turn
around the corner and you get this view.
It's unbelievable. Never say no. You gotta come out and experience it.
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JOSH: You put on a pair of skis and you start going down a hill
and the speed increases
and the excitement increases along with that
and it's kind of winter bliss, where you go fast and far
in a short period of time, standing on your feet, sliding down a hill.
THERESA: You can do it at whatever level you want to do it at.
You can go out on striding skis and that's like kind of going for a walk
or you can go out on skate skis, which is more like going for a run.
WOMAN: There is nothing that will make me ever feel more alive
than putting skis on.
I feel freedom, I feel this intense adrenaline rush.
You are able to just be out in nature slowly taking it in,
whether you're going uphill or downhill.
JOSH: There's an old ski area in Yosemite, California's first ski resort.
MAN: There were a lot of ski areas in national parks back in the twenties and thirties
when people were really trying to draw people to these national parks in the wintertime.
So places like Rocky Mountain National Park, Olympic National Park
Mount Rainier, Yosemite, Sequoia, they all brought in alpine ski areas
to draw people to the national parks in the wintertime.
Most people don't know about these ski areas because most of them are gone.
The only ones left are Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park
and Badger Pass here in Yosemite.
JOSH: Badger Pass is not a huge ski resort.
It's more family oriented ski area.
It's not huge, it's not steep. It's so family-friendly.
You don't have to worry about your kids skiing of the edge of a cliff.
I'll come to Badger Pass, I'll ride the chair lifts, I'll practice my Telemark skiing
and then I'll just keep going off trail and I'll go into the backcountry and
I'll go into the wilderness, do some backcountry ski touring.
TOM: From Badger Pass, you can strike out into the backcountry, out to Ostrander Hut
which was built by the CCC in the nineteen thirties
and is still accommodating backcountry skiers today.
JOSH: Skiing around Ostrander has a lot of variations in terrain.
There's open bowls that people can make beautiful turns down.
There's excellent views from the top of steep ridge lines.
You can look out to Half Dome and the Sierra Crest.
THERESA: The Ostrander Hut is this really great backcountry ski hut experience.
It's run by the Yosemite Conservancy, so you can make a reservation
for the hut through their organization, and one of the things that's really cool
is that there is a hut keeper that's out there
that really knows trails and the terrain.
JOSH: You feel like you're going back in time.
The style of the building: wonderful stacked and mortared stone.
It feels like a castle back in mountains, a miniature castle for skiers.
TOM: The tales of skiing the backcountry that are spun around the fire at night,
the playing of the cards, the cooking the food
all of that happening in winter environment, in a backcountry stone ski hut
is just not something you can get very many places.
JOSH: There's a trailhead that leads you out to Glacier Point.
It's a groomed cross-country ski trail on the Glacier Point Road.
WOMAN: In the summertime, it's a paved road that you can drive out to
and in the wintertime it turns into this remarkable groomed trail
that is groomed for both skate skiers and classic skiers
to be able to go 11 miles out to Glacier Point.
Epic views along the way, beautiful mountain scenes
and at the end you are rewarded with a
remarkable view of Half Dome.
It is never disappointing.
TOM: The hut out there is fully staffed
and you can get your meals, you can get your bunks out there
and just have an incredible time.
A place like Ostrander, you're going to pack in all of your own gear.
A place like the Glacier Point Hut, you can pay for that experience
and have it catered for you.
So depending on the level of adventure you're looking for
you can find it at either place.
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There's something about getting there under your own power
you know, as opposed to driving out to Glacier Point,
to actually take that trek, that ten or eleven mile trek on your own power
and get out there on skis and then have it virtually all to yourself
It's a magical, quiet, peaceful experience that
you just can't find during the rest of the year
and winter offers those types of experiences throughout Yosemite.
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WOMAN: It's peaceful.
I mean it's always peaceful here but something with snow
and stars and the moon and the rock, and it's quiet.
You can hear the waterfall yesterday. It's special.
VIRGIA: If you can find a place that you can be on snow in whatever capacity,
it's magical, and the memories that you'll take back from Yosemite
will far exceed your expectations.