Badger Pass in Yosemite: Tips for NorCal's Best Kept Ski Secret

There are a lot of places to ski and snowboard in Northern California, but one that flies under the radar for a lot of skiers is Badger Pass Ski Area in Yosemite National Park. Badger Pass is one of only three places in the United States with lifts where visitors can ski within the boundaries of a national park.

My family has skied all over Northern California for the past two decades and we've been to Yosemite more times than we can count, but Badger Pass has been one ski destination that has oddly eluded us. My husband and I were finally were able to take a trip to ski at Badger Pass this winter season, with our 12 year old son along for the weekend.

Related: Guide to Yosemite National Park in Winter

What we found is a resort that is absolutely charming, offering uncrowded slopes and shockingly reasonable prices. Badger Pass offers unrivaled value for families as well as anyone wanting to learn to ski or snowboard. We came away absolutely hooked - and motivated to let a few more folks in on this secret too (but hopefully not too many!).

If you are looking to take a low stakes ski vacation in Northern California, especially with kids or new skiers, Badger Pass should be on the top of your short list of places to consider. The area's unique location, however, brings some logistical and planning challenges you definitely need to know about first.

Badger Pass Essential Facts

History. Badger Pass is home to the first ski school in the state of California (founded in 1928!) and has been the site of a lot of ski history. Walt Disney himself skied here in the late 1930s, and the founder of Sugar Bowl Ski Resort Hans Schroll was an instructor during the same period. A lot has obviously changed since that time, but Badger Pass still retains a lot of the same historical charm and style - plus a commitment to teaching visitors to ski.

Size/Terrain. Badger Pass is tiny in comparison to the mega resorts that now dominate the Lake Tahoe ski scene farther north. The ski area has 5 lifts (including one tow-bar) and 10 runs - 2 beginner (green), 5 intermediate (blue), and 3 advanced (black) - covering about 90 skiable acres. That makes it a fraction of the size of even smaller Tahoe resorts like Diamond Peak, but it's still definitely more than just a ski hill. The base sits at 7200 feet of elevation and the summit at 8000 feet.

Lodges. There's one main lodge at the base area, with all the essentials under a single roof. Inside is a small counter where you can purchase lift tickets and lessons. It also has a counter service restaurant and an upstairs bar area, both with indoor seating. There is an adjacent outdoor sun deck with even more tables on both levels. Finally, the ski rental shop where you can pick up rental gear is just adjacent to the main building.

Location. Badger Pass is located part of the way up Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park. In winter, the road beyond the Badger Pass turnoff is closed. Sometimes maps apps don't even show the portion of the road going up to Badger Pass as open when it is, so be sure to check more reliable sources for the road situation (more on that below). It's about a 35-45 minute drive from Yosemite Valley, 45 minutes from the two southernmost park entrances (Wawona on Route 41 and El Portal/Arch Rock on Highway 140), and about an hour from the Big Oak Flat entrance along Highway 120.

Snow. Probably the most important feature to know about the ski area is that Badger Pass relies entirely on natural snow. That means that when Mother Nature doesn't cooperate, the ski area can't operate. Unfortunately that means the opening at the start of the season is often delayed if the snows aren't sufficient to establish a solid base. And in one recent winter (2024-2025), the big snows came too late in the season for the resort to open at all. If the snow is good, however, the ski area can sometimes open as early as mid-December (although mid-January has been more common the last few years) and stay open until late March.

Skiing & Snowboarding at Badger Pass

So what is a day of skiing and snowboarding at Badger Pass like? The three words that come to my mind first after our family's ski trip experience: cheap, uncrowded, and hospitable!

Lift Tickets & Rentals

What may be the most pleasantly surprising thing for Badger Pass visitors is the cost. While many Tahoe ski resorts are now charging $300+ for single day lift tickets, Badger Pass remains exceedingly affordable in comparison. In fact, it's entirely possible for an entire family of 4 people to ski at Badger Pass for less than the price of a one-day lift ticket at places like Palisades or Northstar.

Lift tickets for adults for the 2025-2026 ski season cost $79 and kids (ages 7-12) are just $59.50. Kids 6 and under ski free, and there are no weekend or holiday surge prices.

The rental shop has plenty of gear available to rent, and rental prices are equally affordable. Packages for adults are $44.50 and kids are $34.50.

While a lot of visitors buy their lift tickets and rentals upon arrival, it's possible to pre-purchase daily lift tickets online before your trip and skip the line. Ski and snowboard rentals are pre-bookable as well. But if you plan to purchase a ski school package (more on that below), you'll want to wait to make these purchases until you arrive in person.

Ski School & Lessons

One of the major reasons people have been coming to Badger Pass for nearly a century is that it has had a real commitment to teaching visitors how to ski. Ski school and lesson prices are affordable, and every instructor we met was genuinely excited to share their love of the sport.

There are several group lesson options for both kids and adults at Badger Pass. The first of these is an all day ski school for first timers that guarantees you will learn to ski or snowboard in a single day or you get to come back again for free! These lessons are $154 adults/$140 child and include rental equipment and a lift ticket for lifts serving the green/beginner terrain.

Badger Pass also offers a shorter 2 hour introductory ski and snowboard school option for a bit less - $130 adult and $110 child (also including lift ticket and rentals for the day). These group lessons are offered multiple times a day, with the morning times the most in-demand.

Although it's possible for adults and kids to end up in the same group lesson (unless they are in Badger Pups which is a special program for kids ages 4-6), the instructors try to assemble groupings that make sense.

While Badger Pass advertises that it offers a "Next Step" Lesson Package, we found that practically speaking, it didn't have a group offering for truly intermediate and advanced skiers. So if you want instruction at a higher level, you'll need to book a private lesson. Thankfully, that's pretty reasonable as well (at least compared to private lesson prices at the big resorts), starting at $140 per hour.

We bought my son one of the 2 hour ski school group lessons. Although he's skied multiple times before, we haven't been going regularly the last few years and thought he needed a refresher. His group stayed on the bunny slope with the tow-bar for the vast majority of the time and finished by taking a single run down the longer green slope up the regular lift (Bruin). The level turned out to be a bit too easy for him, but he had a good time nevertheless.

We still had the rest of the day to level up his skills skiing together as a family. After he felt comfortable skiing Bruin multiple times, he eventually graduated to several runs down the wide blue groomer, Eagle, before the day was done.

Slopes & Conditions

With just 10 runs (and a few hours kid-free during ski school), my husband and I had a chance to ski pretty much all of the terrain at the resort. I'm a thoroughly intermediate skier who prefers groomed blues, and I found I was able to ski everything on the mountain, including the black diamonds. I'd say the black diamonds at Badger Pass are equivalent to medium/hard blues at Tahoe resorts like Northstar and Heavenly.

While I certainly appreciated that ego boost, I was worried my husband who is an expert skier was going to be bored. But he thoroughly enjoyed the terrain too, finding it adequately challenging. And he loved that all of us could ski together on longer slopes rather than just the bunny hill.

What we all loved most of all about the ski experience at Badger Pass was that we often found the slopes completely empty - even mid-day on a Saturday! I've had way too many close calls on narrow and crowded runs at many other ski resorts trying to dodge getting hit by out-of-control skiers and snowboarders. There is just NONE of that at Badger Pass. There were times we skied a run and literally didn't even see another human being the entire time.

When we visited, it had been several weeks since the most recent snowfall, and temperatures had been warm, so we didn't have high expectations for the snow conditions. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the skiing was actually very good - firmly packed, but not icy.

The grooming team at Badger Pass had been working hard to move snow around to cover bare patches and keep the slopes in quality shape. The slopes to the left of the mountain (as you stand at the base), Beaver and Rabbit, got a little slushy, but Eagle and Red Fox in the center were in fantastic shape all day, as was the beginner run Bruin on the right.

Planning Your Own Trip

Speaking of conditions and operations, it's important to understand that it can be hard to get reliable up-to-date information about Badger Pass from afar as you plan. The ski area doesn't have a big social media team pumping out content or lots of visitors posting daily updates on Instagram or TikTok to help you understand what the current situation on the ground is really like.

So where can you get helpful real time information about road and ski conditions as your trip approaches? These sources have served me best in the years I've been planning a Badger Pass ski trip:

• Yosemite Road Conditions Phone (209-372-0200): It's absolutely essential to call this number if there have been recent winter storms. Automated recordings updated multiple times daily will inform you about road closures, chain requirements, and more.
• Badger Pass Snow Phone (209.372.1000): Automated recordings updated regularly when there are ski area closures in play.
• Badger Pass Webcam: A live look at the slopes in real time! I watch this carefully in the early season to try to judge when the ski area may open for the season.
• We Love Skiing at Badger Pass Facebook group: A friendly Facebook group full of a lot of locals and folks who have been going to the ski area all their lives. The group has regular activity during winter months with lots of photos and trip reports. The Badger Pass community is so tight knit we even met a group member in person on the sun deck during our visit!
• Badger Pass Facebook Page: Not always reliably updated (especially in the pre-season), but major closures or weather reports during the winter season are posted here.
• Yosemite Sub-reddit: Forum tends to be more helpful about the park generally, but occasionally Badger Pass pops up in conversation.

Where to Stay

So if you are ready to plan a trip, where do you stay overnight? Badger Pass doesn't have any fancy slopeslide lodging. In fact, there really isn't any lodging particularly nearby at all. That definitely adds to the challenge of getting there (especially when winter weather is in play) and surely is one reason the resort isn't more crowded.

A lot of Badger Pass visitors are locals, but if you are coming from farther away as we were, the best places to stay are the hotels and other lodging options within Yosemite Valley operated by official Yosemite concessioner Aramark (book on the official site here). You can even take a free shuttle that runs several times daily from these lodging locations if you don't want to do the driving yourself (shuttle details on the Badger Pass webpage).

Lodging options within the park (and their estimated drive time to Badger Pass when roads are clear) include:

We stayed at the closest hotel option, Yosemite Valley Lodge. Rooms run about $250-350 a night in the winter months. Sometimes stay-and-ski packages are even available that include lift tickets for everyone in the room. We opted to pay for our room a la carte, as we knew we'd save money on my son's ski school package, but in future trips where we plan to ski on our own without ski school, the stay-and-ski deal might be cheaper.

Only a little bit farther are hotel options just outside the park borders at the entrances along Highways 120, 140, or 41. Recommended lodging options at various price points include:

• Yosemite View Lodge (45 mins): No frills independently-owned hotel in El Portal along Highway 140
• Tenaya Lodge (50 mins): Luxury full-service resort just outside of the park's southern entrance with hotel rooms, cabins, and cottages. Property includes a spa, indoor pool and hot tub, restaurants, and ice skating rink in winter.
• Rush Creek Lodge (1 hr): Luxury full-service resort just outside of the park's Big Oak Flat Entrance.
• Holiday Inn Express Oakhurst (1 hr, 10 mins): Reliable chain-style hotel accommodations, free breakfast.
• Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Oakhurst Yosemite (1 hr, 10 mins): Reliable chain-style hotel accommodations, free breakfast.
• Hampton Inn Oakhurst (1 hr, 10 mins): Reliable chain-style hotel accommodations, free breakfast.

Final Thoughts

While it took a few years to make a visit happen, Badger Pass turned out to be well worth the wait - and then some! While we came for and thoroughly enjoyed the skiing and the reasonable prices, we ultimately also came away with a deep appreciation for the place's history and community.

The people at Badger Pass truly made the whole experience extra special for all of us. From the lift operators who quickly came to recognize us as we looped our favorite run to the regulars and local season passholders who greeted and welcomed us while hanging out on the sun deck, everyone at the mountain was so darn friendly.

My husband, who grew up skiing in Tahoe in the 1980s and 1990s before things got so fancy and expensive, said it felt like we were giving our son the same old school ski experience he had 3+ decades ago. That's exceedingly rare, and we are grateful for it. And we hope other families can share in the same before many experiences like this disappear.

Thanks for a magical first trip, Badger Pass - we can't wait to come back!