Ostrander Hut Ski Tour

From February 19 to 21, 2018, my buddy Dr. Eric from San Francisco and I did a ten mile ski tour to the Ostrander hut for a two night stay and three days of skiing. The hut is situated south above Yosemite Valley in a glacial cirque at 8500 feet.

The initial four miles, we skied a gently rolling, mostly downhill track on Glacier Point Road from the Yosemite ski area to the trailhead. Luckily, the previous few nights had deposited a couple inches of new snow, so the road was skiable. We stopped to chat with some skiers on their way out from staying at the hut, and we spotted a couple of coyotes crossing the road along the way.

From the trailhead we skied another two and a half miles of mostly flat, forested trail to the start of the three-mile climb up to the hut that I heard later referred to, appropriately, as "Heart Attack Hill."

Even though snow coverage increased as we ascended, the trail up the final three-mile climb to the hut was significantly rockier than lower down without quite enough snow yet, so we were forced to carry skis and boots on our packs and finish with a hike up to the hut. The entire trip took about six hours, and given my pack weight of about 30 lbs plus 15 lbs worth of skis and boots, I was totally depleted upon arrival.

The hut is situated on the shore of Ostrander Lake, with skiing below Horse Ridge across the lake and to the east.

On the evening we arrived at the hut, there were several other skiers, along with the hut host Allison. We rested and warmed up, then ate, and we finished the night playing board games and getting to know to our fellow hut mates.

The next morning Eric relaxed at the hut while I joined Steve and Jade from Reno to skin up the ridge to the southeast of the hut and ski the bowl beneath Horse Ridge. Then I joined Eric after lunch for some touring.

An inch or two of fresh powder the night before left us with about three to five inches of snow on the slopes surrounding the hut.

The views are great. You can see the back of Half Dome at the far left of this photo of me on the skin track.

A view of the untracked powder skiing in the bowl below Horse Ridge.

Laying fresh tracks.

Later, Steve and I skied the east side of the ridge as well. We skinned back up, then Allison met us at the top, and we had a long, rolling ski down through the trees back toward the hut.

The next morning, Allison and Eric tidy up as we prepare to ski out. With a bit more new snow, we were able to ski most of the way back out, though it was still about a 6 hour tour out, ending with a long, gently uphill climb on the road.