There was about two feet of snow in the Yosemite Village area when I got there on Tuesday. All the paved bike paths in the area seemed to have been plowed clear of loose snow but there was plenty of packed snow and ice underfoot:
I had Yaktraks with me put I never put them on. The Lodge, in particular, had signs up warning visitors not to wear traction devices indoors because of the danger of slipping and falling. Of course those could have been motivated partly by concern for what spikes would do to their floors.
Early in the morning (like 8 AM), temps in the Valley seemed to be in the 20s (F). Everything was frozen solid and traction with ordinary hiking boots (Merrell Moabs) wasn't that bad, The paths were a mix of hard-packed snow, rough refrozen ice, smooth "black ice", and some bare asphalt. I used trekking poles (uncapped to expose the carbide tips) wherever I went, and wouldn't have wanted to go very far without them. In the afternoon, temps in some of the warmer places got into the 50s so all the snow and ice was a lot slipperier.
I'd bought a pair of oversize boots to try in cold weather. I wasn't sure how they were going to work out, but with two pairs of "expedition socks" they were perfect for both fit and warmth.
The trails that were officially open had already seen a lot of use and were nicely packed down. I ventured up the UYFT a few hundred feet (of elevation). I could've gone even farther but the process of finding traction was pretty tiring and (as I expected) it was even harder on the way down. I ended up using a variation of my gravel-sprinkled-granite technique. I'd sometimes have my feet planted against the rocks (or whatever) at the edges of the trail, my poles at maximum length out in front of me, and be picking my way down half a step at a time. I don't think the Yaktraks would have helped much. My boot treads were typically digging into the packed snow pretty well but I didn't trust the snow not to wipe out under me. I made maximum use of the partly-exposed rocks.
There was a lot of snow still in the trees, and in the warmer parts of the day clumps of it would fall on the trail. From the sound they made, some of them seemed to weigh as much as five pounds. I didn't get nailed but sometimes when snowballs started raining down around me, I'd scramble up a slope a little faster than I felt comfortable doing.
I did bring snowshoes with me on my second day (of three), and tried them out for about an hour between the Swinging Bridge picnic area and the bottom of the Four Mile Trail. I might have gone a little farther but I didn't really have a destination in mind. I'd worried about where/how I was going to put the snowshoes on, since I didn't want to try to cross Southside Drive while wearing them and the snow looked deep on the other side. Fortunately the berm that had been thrown up by the snowplow was nice and solid, so I could stand/kneel on top of it while donning (and doffing) the shoes. I'd brought a kneeling pad with me, and found it quite useful.
Although it's possible to get to, from, and around the Valley carrying snowshoes, that part wasn't a lot of fun. On a shuttle bus, I'd take up two seats; on YARTS, I'd ask the driver to stow my pack and snowshoes in the cargo hold.
Half Curry Village was closed when I was there (apparently open weekends only) so the NatureBridge kids were staying at the Lodge instead. The shuttle buses were running, this time on two loops: one loop covering all the stops, the other only between the Lodge and that sort-of-majestic-looking hotel near Ahwahnee Meadow.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2017 11:33AM by gophersnake.