There's other Av Zones before there too...
With the winter we are having there is many feet of snow on Tioga Road.
Storm after storm... so expect to bust trail on your trip...
Even Thanksgiving... the road was completely covered... and we've
had many feet of snow since then... (there was at least 2 ft. of snow
right at the valley rim... and more than 8 ft. in areas ... Eagle Peak Mdw... Ribbon Mdw... )
You can park at TG (Tuolumne Grove) ... ignore the overnight parking signs..
Or right near the gate at Yosemite Institute.
We parked at TG over Thanksgiving ... and have done before
(pretty much AFTER Oct. 15 the signs of overnight can be ignored... until spring)
Good luck... I dunno ... unless AVID skier... I would recommend hiking up
Snow Creek trail... and go from there...
or MAYBE ... ski to Yosemite Creek Campground... and down Yose Falls..
It's slow going... dang.. even last weekend.. yeah, we only snowshoe...
but we were WAY less than 1mph... more like 0.5... busting trail in
new snow... making 6 miles if that...
Have fun ... you are young... you can do it...
Be safe