

Cross country skiers have miles of terrain to explore between the Badger Pass Ski Area and Glacier Point / DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite.

Editor's note: This is a special advertiser-supported article from the Essential Park Guide, Winter 2014.

A thin ribbon of Yosemite National Park asphalt that during summer can be backed up with traffic enjoys its quiet season from mid-November through April, and often into May. That's a long, wonderful period when snows muffle sound and block wheeled-traffic on a long stretch of the Glacier Point Road.

That solitude can be hard to fully appreciate while you're building up a sweat as you kick-and-glide or skate towards Glacier Point, but as you pause to catch your breath you can't help but relish the snow-cloaked forest surrounding you.

That short break, spent inhaling the cold, piney air and marveling in the snowy silence, makes it hard to ski on without reveling in your fortune... until you reach Glacier Point with its spectacular views. At that point, jubilation sets in.

Immediately below you is the mile-wide Yosemite Valley, opposite you is Yosemite Fall, and off to the right Half Dome stands impressively, shouldering its own snowy mantle, dominating the panorama.

Winter is refreshingly, well, fresh in Yosemite. Gone until May are the crowds that fill the Yosemite Valley, the Glacier Point Road, and the Mariposa Grove. In their place you find the quiet beauty of the snow-frocked Yosemite Chapel, a perfect greeting card photo; the peacefulness of ducks bobbing on the calm Merced River waters; the prospect of a snowball fight that collapses into a line of giggling snow angels.

Mid-winter visits to Yosemite can find you surrounded by valley walls encrusted with ice formed when waterfalls' spray is snared by frigid temperatures. Then, spooking you with their without-warning suddenness, sections of ice, burdened by their growing weight, break off with a jarring crack and plummet hundreds of feet to the ground.



Keeping your eyes in front of your skis can be difficult with these views in Yosemite/ Keeping your eyes in front of your skis can be difficult with these views in Yosemite/ Yosemite Scenic Wonders

Winter visits to Yosemite can coincide with a snowstorm. Skiers hope for just such an event, and for them, first tracks at the Badger Pass Ski Area can easily be had when base camp is a rental home or condo in Yosemite West. This small residential area is ideally located in the park, just 20 minutes from both the ski area and the Yosemite Valley. The hard part you're confronted with each morning is where to head.

If alpine skiing or tubing is your desire, well, Badger Pass awaits. If skinny skis ' classic or skate, your choice ' are your passion, from the ski area it's 10.5 miles of set tracks to Glacier Point with its overlook, a distance that when doubled by an out-and-back ski makes for a perfect day. If that seems too far, follow the marked ski trail to Dewey Point Meadow or perhaps explore the Ghost Forest Loop.

Snowshoers even have their own 3-mile trail leading out from the ski area to explore.

And then, after a day on the slopes, on the trail, or in the Yosemite Valley, you don't have to leave the park but rather find yourself at Yosemite West soothing your body in a hot tub before setting down to dinner before a fire. No confining lodge room or waiting on a dinner reservation in the valley, but going at your own pace. It is a vacation, after all.

While much of Yosemite can be out of reach in winter ' the Tioga Road is closed at Crane Flat, backcountry trails are under feet of snow ' you won't be at a loss for things to do.

The Tuolumne Grove, with its stately sequoias, showcases more of the natural enormity on display in Yosemite. You also can head down to the Mariposa Grove and ski or snowshoe in on the access road that closes to wheeled-traffic in winter.

Bridalveil Fall plunges year-round out of the high country, and when rimmed in ice and pushed by a breeze, the wispy fall makes an iconic photo. Check the park newspaper to see what ranger-led walks and talks are on tap. If there's a full moon, consider a moonlit snowshoe trek from Badger Pass Lodge.

And when day is done, head back to your home or condo at Yosemite West, and do it all over again in the morning.