Mariposa County, California — Did you know that Yosemite National Park is home to a ski area? Badger Pass is one of three ski areas located inside a national park in the United States. The other two are Hurricane Ridge in Washington and Boston Mills Brandywine in Ohio (the latter of which should be considered two ski areas, but I don’t make the rules).
However, Badger Pass Ski Area hasn’t operated this winter. The ski area hasn’t seen much snow this winter and has yet to open. They shared a post a little over a week ago showing grass around its base area and minimal snowpack on the mountain.
On Monday, Badger Pass officially announced that it won’t open this winter. This is due to the insufficient snowpack that currently exists on the mountain. While they are receiving snow this upcoming weekend, they said it’s too late to be able to operate over what would have been a short period of time. Season passholders are being offered the chance to receive refunds.
This is the latest operational headache for Yosemite Hospitality, LLC (aka Aramark), which is the hospitality provider for Yosemite National Park. In a damning investigative piece released last year by Bloomberg, they revealed that the national park is full of decaying structures and disgusting conditions in employee housing. Aramark has since pledged to make changes, but this has included the indefinite closure of the Wawona Hotel.
Let’s hope next winter is a better one for Badger Pass.
Image Credits: Badger Pass Ski Area, Skimap.org
