SIERRA SHUTDOWN: Tioga Pass Resort closes winter operations to expand
Skiers in the Yosemite High Country will need to be a little more resourceful this winter. Tioga Pass Resort, one of the best places to access the Eastern Sierra backcountry, will shut its doors for the season. But it’s not as bad as you might think. The resort is not closing down for good, just making way for more improvements.
“Kill the rumors,” says Michael Entin, managing member of Tioga Pass Resort. “We’re not dead, we’re expanding…We’re actually going to offer additional, cushier rooms for those who want them.”
California ski towns were abuzz with word that the lodge was closing shop for good, and that accessing the high Sierra would be much more difficult. Located just outside the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park, skiers currently access the lodge by skinning two to four miles up from the gated winter-closure of Highway 120 through Lee Vining Canyon. Without overnight accommodations (aside from camping), the skin into Tuolumne Meadows is a 16-mile slog.
The lodge currently has eight rustic cabins, a dorm-style bunkroom, and a central bathroom, and accommodates 24 people. The cabins are equipped with beds, electric heaters, and a basic kitchen. As the snowdrifts often pile up past the windows, the interiors are usually cold and dark. But from your front door you can skin one to three miles to reach classic descents such as Dana Couloir, Ellery Chutes, and North Peak—couloirs that run 2,000-4,000 vertical feet—and be back in time for supper.
As one of the few shelter systems in the huge Sierra Nevada, Tioga Pass has become a springtime ritual for many backcountry skiers. Kern Barta, a Tahoe local who has made numerous technical descents throughout the Sierra, laments the short-term loss. “When I heard TPR was shutting down winter operations, it felt like being kicked in the balls,” he says. “Great food, comfortable beds, electricity, showers, and 360 degrees of snow-sliding paradise, gone in single sentence. TPR was it for the High Sierra.”
The new plans—calling for a two-story, eight-bedroom lodge—have been in the works for the past five years. During the environmental impact studies and approval process, the state, county, and federal government required TPR to upgrade its fuel storage and water treatment. These improvements, along with a hut manager who needed a vacation after five long seasons, forced the owners to shut down for this season—and possibly next.
Located at 9,641 feet above sea level and with 400-plus inches of snow annually, Tioga Pass is a challenging place to conduct any kind of operation. And nothing quite like TPR exists in the Sierra, with its dramatic, steep terrain and comfortable accommodations. The only other shelter in the immediate area is the Tuolumne Meadows hut, a basic, first-come, first-served cabin 16 miles up from the base of Lee Vining Canyon. Two other operations, Rock Creek Lodge, located south of Mammoth, and Lost Trail Lodge, outside Truckee, provide cushy cabins and an easy escape, though the skiing leaves something to be desired. Otherwise, more rustic, self-serve hut options include a handful in the Tahoe region and the Tuolumne and Ostrander Huts in Yosemite.
Entin says the upgrades and new construction will happen over the next two summers, giving TPR a better shot at opening for winter again by next year: Hope for a better future exists.
