Re: Badger Pass Opens

Call 372-1000 for snow conditions.

Ski rentals, ticks and the snowboarding school open at 8:30. Food starts at 8:00. The lifts open at 9am.

You can also rent snowshoes and cross country skis! Head out to Dewey Point! Book an overnight trip to stay in the lodge at Glacier Point! Glacier Point Road may be closed past Badger Pass, but you can snowshoe/ski on it to various destinations. If you're lucky, they may just groom it with XC ski tracks.

Glacier Point in Winter:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2carolyn/sets/72157594538176777/

Dewey Point in Winter:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2carolyn/sets/72157594584996213/

Take a snowcamping training with the Sierra Club! (I think the training deadline is past for this year). The snowcamping folks are a great group of people, I really enjoyed my trips with them.
http://snowcamping.org



Post Edited (12-29-07 06:32)

How long does it take, from Badger Pass, to:

a) snowshoe to Glacier Point and back
b) x-c ski the above

? I need to know

It is really far, 10.5 miles one way...21 miles round trip. I think some hard core people go to Glacier Point and back in a day, but I don't know how they do it. 10.5 miles was more than enough for me. It probably took us 5 hours one way on XC skis and it was exhausting. The weather was pretty bad (rain) on the way there and made it kind of difficult to ski. The next day the groomer went by, so that made it a little easier. There's a big hill to get down to Glacier Point and then you have to climb back up it to get out, obviously. You should know how to XC ski before doing this trip and be in shape, maybe go XC skiing once or twice that season to tone up those muscles. We went to Bear Valley a couple times to take a lesson and XC ski before going to Glacier Point. They have a nice XC ski area at Bear Valley.

You have to book a trip in order to stay at the lodge at Glacier Point. Otherwise you're snowcamping.

http://www.yosemitepark.com/BadgerPass_CrossCountrySkiing_GlacierPointHut.aspx

All I can say is it was worth the price.

Bring earplugs for sleeping in the bunk beds!

You can go do Dewey Point for a day trip if you can't make it to Glacier Point.
I think Crocker Point is popular, too, I think that is a little closer.

There are 2 hour ranger-guided snowshoe walks - I think at 10AM every morning. Meet at the A-Frame building closest to the parking area. Check the park newspaper for details. I think it's still a suggested donation of $5 for equipment maintenance and free if you bring your own snowshoes.

They also do full-moon snowshoe walk about two/three nights a month. They charge more for this, but charge a bit less if you bring your own snowshoes.