Badger Pass Ski, Tube and Snowboard Area in Yosemite
This article originally appeared on My Yosemite Park
Badger Pass Ski Area, located off Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park at elevations up to 8,000 feet, is the oldest ski area in California. It’s also one of only three in national parks that have a ski lift (the others being in Olympic National Park in Washington, and Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio).
It’s intimate and cozy (there are 5 lifts), with mostly beginner and intermediate runs--making it a great place to learn to ski. A terrain park gives snowboarders a chance to practice tricks. It also has a snow tubing area, making it a great place to hang out and coast down the slopes via a tube. Open from about mid-December to mid-March, the ski area is scheduled to start its lifts up for the public Dec. 16, 2022, conditions permitting.
In winter, Glacier Point Road is plowed up to the resort, so you can access it by car from the Wawona area or the valley, but only if your car is equipped with snow tires and you bring tire chains.
Early morning and mid-morning, a free shuttle runs from Yosemite Valley lodging to the ski area, and in the early afternoon and late afternoon the shuttle returns visitors to the valley. Visit www.travelyosemite.com/winter/badger-pass-ski-area/ to check the shuttle schedule, buy season passes and get discounted ski and lodging packages.
Learn to Ski at Yosemite Winter Sports School
Generations of families have learned to ski at Yosemite’s beloved Badger Pass off Glacier Point Road.
Colin Baldock, area manager for the ski area told the LA Times, “In my ski-instructing experience in Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S., Badger Pass is the best family ski area I have worked at. It is safe, easy and relaxing. The area is not intimidating like the larger ski areas. All the lifts leave from the one base area, and all the ski runs end back in the base area. Mom and Dad can watch their children from the lodge desk.”
Take your pick of a small downhill skiing and snowboarding area equipped with chair lifts or a 90-mile network of cross-country ski trails.
Friendly instructors and rental equipment are available near the inner-tubing bunny hill for kids. For backcountry enthusiasts, overnight accommodations are available for cross-country skiers at Glacier Point and Ostrander Lake.
For More Information:
Badger Pass Ski Area
7082 Glacier Point Road, Yosemite National Park, CA 95389
(209) 372-8430
www.travelyosemite.com/winter/badger-pass-ski-area/
For a weather forecast, visit www.travelyosemite.com/discover/weather
Call (209) 372-0200, 1, 1, for the most up-to-date road information.
Watch the ski area webcam at www.travelyosemite.com/winter/badger-pass-ski-area-webcam/
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