Skiing Yosemite- Ostrander Lake Hut

Skiing in Yosemite National Park is rarely the first activity that comes to mind when this storied park is brought up. Big wall climbing takes precedence in the valley over all other sports; but in the winter, it’s all about skiing.

Nothing beats first light in the Valley

In early January, Nina Bridges and I secured spots to the famous Ostrander Lake Hut run by the Yosemite Conservancy. On the second of January we drove up from Tahoe and around the westside of Yosemite as all the eastside entrances are closed during the winter. After an early morning of driving, we made it to Badger Pass Ski Area where we had to check in at the ranger station to get our wilderness permit; I even hiked in some much needed supplies for the hut’s water system.

Parking on the far side of the lot from the ski area is where your journey will begin. The trailhead for the hut is the groomed cross-country road that in the summer is Glacier Point road. Here you’ll generally find about four and a half miles of downhill skinning on the Glacier Point road before diverting off trail toward the hut. Pro tip: although it may be tempting, it is much advised to skin this entire section rather than be in downhill mode & having to skate uphill on some short bursts of hills. Markers for where trails begin are littered throughout this zone with bright yellow “flags'' on trees. We found this extremely helpful as we rarely had to check our GPS devices to orientate ourselves since the signage is so robust. Along the way you'll find great views of snow-capped domes high above the valley floor.

Nina skinning on Glacier Point road, Getting the shot of the shot,

Unique view of Starr King dome

As we did research about this trip, we were getting mixed responses about how long it would take us to arrive at Ostrander. Most reports were around 10-12 hours to get into the hut, it surprisingly took us only three hours and twenty-eight minutes. This was a nice surprise as it provided us with extra time to ski a lap right above the hut to see how the snow was.

Heading up above the lake on day one, Looking back at our snow-assessment descent

The hut itself is a beautiful stone structure that was initially created to be a part of an Alps-like cross-country skiing hut network. Fortunately for us downhill skiers, alpine skiing grew exponentially but conversely the funding for the rest of this proposed hut network dwindled with cross-country’s popularity. The hut is a two level building sporting a large communal table in the center of the first floor accompanied by a kitchen with a sink, plates, silverware, gas-burning stoves and all the items needed for a robust meal. In the kitchen you'll find menus of old expeditions touting steak with potatoes & other eccentric meals.

After making some delicious steak and peppers for ourselves we played some board games and rested for the next day of touring.

Hut aesthetics , Steak Stir-fry for night one

As morning dawned we collected ourselves, made a simple breakfast and were on our way. Our goal for the day was to ski some low angle powder all the way back to Buena Vista Peak. We started by heading north to avoid the steep headwall above Ostrander Lake and contoured around the backside of Horse Ridge. From here we dropped south into some mellow glades, making hippy turns for roughly 1200’. Once we decided on a transition point and deliberated for a bit, we started chugging along towards the Buena Vista area. The terrain here is very mellow and meandering. It takes quite a bit of time to arrive at any steep, engaging terrain. After a couple hours of skinning east underneath Horse Ridge towards our objective we were soon above the Buena Vista Lake looking at radical ski lines. We decided to cut across the flat section of the bowl to the eastern side to have a westward descent as it seemed to be holding the deepest, coldest snow. After more trailbreaking we were finally on a nice short pitch for a beautiful descent of powder wiggles. We reveled in the good conditions we found and decided to start making our way back to the hut.

Myself making a turn down towards Buena Vista lake, Quartzite Peak in the Distance

Photos: Nina Bridges

Once at the lake we put our skins back on and began to ascend back towards Horse Ridge. We meandered northwest through the woods to gain the ridge and had another phenomenal descent with some fun steep rolls leading to wide open powder fields.

Getting back to the hut from here was a short skin northeast over another frozen lake and a short descent that I chose to ride with my skins on.

Back at the hut we had much discussion on whether we should stay for our final night as a major storm was about to roll in, likely leaving us not only stuck at the hut but our vehicle stuck at Badger Pass Ski Area. With Nina needing to work the next day and the snowfall projections getting bigger and bigger, we decided to bail the next morning back to our cars. Three days, each being ten miles each was a fun three-day adventure we were looking for.

This hut is very special, something every Sierra skier should experience at least once. From the unique perspectives of the park to the interesting characters you're bound to meet here, this place is a hoot!

Bonus park goodness