San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Famed remote Yosemite ski hut reopens
A renowned ski cabin in the Yosemite wilderness is reopening this winter after a two-year pandemic hiatus.
The 81-year-old Ostrander Ski Hut stands as the only hosted backcountry ski cabin in the national park, a haven for winter adventurers content to trade luxuries like electricity and Wi-Fi for access to some of the finest ski-touring terrain on the Sierra’s western slope. But to the dismay of skiers across the state, it was shut down during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. It is only now reopening to visitors.
An online reservation lottery is open for overnight stays between Dec. 23 and April 1, 2023. The nightly rate is $50 per person.
“Get your mouse hovered over that ‘book now’ button because (reservations) do go fast,” said Adonia Ripple, Chief of Yosemite Operations for the nonprofit Yosemite Conservancy, which manages the hut with the park.
As lodging, ski huts are typically spartan accommodations with few modern amenities and function as launchpads for winter wilderness exploration or stopovers on longer tours. While common in Europe, such huts are few and far between in the U.S. By one estimate, there are fewer than 10 in the Sierra. However, a fresh set opened last year in the mountains outside of Truckee.
Perched at 8,500 feet in elevation at the edge of a glacial cirque is Ostrander, a rustic granite hut with a pine A-frame roof. The country bunkhouse sleeps 25 guests (although the Conservancy is only allowing 18 at a time this winter) and includes a communal kitchen, a small library, a loft and a massive wood stove for warmth. It has no electricity — save for some solar-powered ceiling lights — and no running water; guests have to run buckets up from the nearby Ostrander Lake.
“It’s for hardy souls, for sure,” Ripple said.
Yosemite has another backcountry ski hut at Tuolumne Meadows; it’s free, first-come, first-served and sleeps 10. However, it sometimes fills up, meaning skiers have to come prepared to camp in the snow. Ostrander, by comparison, requires advance online booking and is staffed by a host who makes sure the operation runs smoothly.
Just getting to Ostrander can be difficult. The hut is a strenuous 10 miles into the mountains starting from Badger Pass Ski Area, accessible to visitors only on skis. The Conservancy cautions that the journey “should only be attempted by experienced backcountry skiers” and warns people to prepare for the possibility of having to camp in the snow en route in rough weather.
“It takes a lot of energy and skill to get out there but guests are rewarded with incredible views of basically the entire Yosemite high country,” including Half Dome, Mount Hoffman and the Clark Range, Ripple said.
More than that, the hut has served as a communal hub for generations of California skiers, Ripple said.
“You can just feel the joy of skiers past in the walls and the history of Yosemite winter sports out there.”