Back Country Skiing in Yellowstone National Park

Backcountry skiing has blossomed in popularity during the last decade. Most people point to COVID as the real catalyst for the sports growth, but I think it goes beyond that. The inconsistency of downhill skiing conditions at ski resorts definitely plays a big role as well. It can be 10 degrees and snowing on one day and 50 and raining the next, especially on the East coast. Investing so much time and money only to have mother nature laugh at you seems to represent a diminishing return on investment these days. Bottom line, downhill skiing isn’t worth the cost.

Back country skiing provides a cheaper more predictable option for adrenaline seekers. For me, I fell in love the adventurous aspect of backcountry skiing. One thing that I have learned is that there are very few places you can’t get to with a pair of skins. Combining hiking and skiing for me is like combining chocolate and peanut butter. They are both delicious on their own, but when you mix them together, you get pure happiness. For the last decade I have done some pretty remarkable ski touring in some pretty remarkable places. Always with friends and always with a guide. I have narrowed my experiences down to what I would call the gold standard and best of the best.

Yellowstone National Park

You may not know this, but there is back country skiing in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is the 3rd busiest national park in the United Stats. Close to 5 million people arrive each Summer to catch a glimpse of the parks natural wonders and beauty. In the Wintertime the park is quiet (and cold). This keeps the people away, but it certainly does not diminish its beauty. Seeing the park in Winter is in some ways more rewarding than in the summer. At least to me.

On a cold day in February after skiing the previous day at Bridger Bowl Ski Resort near Bozeman Montana, me and two friends rented a car and drove 4 hours to Cooke City, Montana to what would be our base camp for the next four days. The drive took us through the North Gate of the Park and then West along route 212 before eventually turning North to Sliver Gate and Cook City, both of which sit just over the Montana State line.

Driving through the park in the winter was something to behold. After passing through Mammoth Hot Springs, we followed along Lava Creek. Steam rose from the river creating a cloud of smoke that rose into the air and blanketed the scenery in a mysterious haze.

Dozens of buffalo walked in groups along the vast never-ending landscape and even on the road. At one point, a group of buffalos walking on the road were headed straight for our car. We stopped and watched as they walked right by our windows. I’m not sure if the exhilaration overcame the terrifying fear, but seeing a buffalo two feet from me through a car window sure was a memorable experience.

Our destination, Cooke City, was the end of the road for us. Literally. The road heading North from Cooke City was closed to vehicles. Only snow mobiles were allowed to pass the barricade signifying that the road was closed. Arriving in Cooke City was like going back in time. The “City” looked straight out of a Western. Instead of horses roped up to fences at the Saloon (There really is a Saloon here), there were snow mobiles. Everywhere you looked there was snow mobiles. That was clearly the most popular activity here. In fact, there really wasn’t any other activity. We were there for backcountry skiing, but no one else was.

We hired a guide from Yellowstone Ski Tours to lead us on this unprecedented adventure. At the time, it was the only backcountry ski touring company licensed to guide people into the park. This meant that very few people skied here. In fact, we would go most of the 4 days without seeing a single person on our ski tours.

We stayed in a wooden cabin just on the outskirts of Cooke City. I believe it was officially a town called Silver Gate. We were scheduled to meet our guide in the AM where would have a brief orientation and then head out to our first day of backcountry skiing. As we organized our gear and ate dinner we received a message from our guide. It was going to be cold tomorrow. Now, when I say cold, I mean really cold. -27 without the wind chill cold. Our guide told us we would need to boil our water in the AM so that it wouldn’t freeze on our tour. This was a first for us. Yes, this was going to be a very memorable adventure.

Day 1: Lower Pebble Creek Zone

We got a late start to our day 1 adventure as we wanted to give the sun a little bit of time to combat the cold temperatures. We headed out at 10 AM and drove about 25 min into Yellowstone Park before pulling over on the side of the road. We geared up and headed out into what was called the Lower Pebble Creek Zone.

We spent a good chunk of the day skinning up and into the middle of nowhere. The word isolation doesn’t do what we experienced justice. We were in a place where not many humans have been. We were truly off the grid. Luckily, the long uphill tour kept us warm. We knew that if we stopped for too long, the cold would take its unapologetic hold on us and make for a nasty (and dangerous) day. We tried not to stay idle long enough for that to happen. Instead, we continued on further and further away from the road. When it was time to ski, we transitioned from hiking to skiing mode as fast as we could.

All in all we toured for about 5 hours. We skied 3 “runs.” The experience was incredible simply due to where we were. We had incredible views of the Lamar Valley (above pic) which is well known as the place where the US reintroduced a dying population of grey wolves in 1995. It is known as one of the most famous ecological restoration projects of all time. We didn’t see any wolves, but roaming through their environment was good enough for me!

Day 2: State Line Meadows Zone

Day 2 was more of the same. Lots of skinning to stay warm. Lots of isolation and lots of beautiful skiing lines through untouched mountains. State Line Meadows, so named as it was on the border of Montana and Wyoming was an enjoyable zone for ski touring.

After hiking up and over a small mountain ridge, we entered a huge plateau. All I could see was white. Pristine untouched snow spread out before us for miles and miles. It gave us the illusion of being on another planet. We didn’t see any people. We didn’t see any animals. All we saw was white. The skiing was enjoyable, but for me the tour and the vast plateau was the most memorable part of day 2.

Day 3: Upper Pebble Creek Zone

Upper Pebble Creek Zone was a more intense version of Lower Pebble Creek. We tried to stay in the trees as much as possible to avoid the cold and fend off frost bite.

On Day 3 we hiked up to an exposed mountain peak. Here you could feel the -30 degree cold. We transitioned quickly and headed down back into the trees. My buddy would experience some minor frostbite on his toe on this day. It wouldn’t improve for 6 months. The cold didn’t deter us though and we finished another grueling long day of skinning and skiing. At this point our guide couldn’t believe that we wanted to do a fourth day. “No one ever does 4 straight days,” he said. We were not like most people and we informed him that would absolutely be doing a fourth day.

Day 4- Gardiner’s Hole Zone-

On Day 4 we packed all of our belongings into our rental car and hit the road following our guide as he drove back towards the Northern Gate entrance that we drove through to get into the park 5 days earlier. Our plan was to head back to Bozeman after our tour. Because this was our last day, our guide chose to take us to what is known as “Gardiners Hole.” Why it’s called that, I have no idea. From the parking lot, we saw some signs that boasted “thermal features” ahead. We didn’t know what to expect, but it sounded promising. As we set out on our tour we saw someone snow shoeing. It was the first person we had seen in 4 days that was actually out doing some sort of activity.

As the signs promised, we did see a couple of “thermal features” which were typically some sort of bubbling sulfuric water that trickled over rocks and created steam. The areas of these “features” were sectioned off and contained many warnings to keep your distance. I wasn’t about to defy the warnings to touch the boiling water, so I watched from a distance intrigued that places like this existed on earth.

We continued our tour and headed further and further away from the parking lot. Eventually we came to a plateau that overlooked a beautiful valley. It was clear that we would be headed into that valley. As we followed our guide he suddenly stopped and asked us to come closer to him.

He pointed in the distance to a black dot that seemed to be right smack in the middle of a white snow covered field. It was a buffalo! Apparently our trail would go right by it. He told us to stay quiet and try not to disturb the buffalo. I was terrified, but we continued on, single file until we were about 100 yards from it. It stared at us as we walked slowly by. It was lying down which at the time made me feel a bit better about invading its space! He just watched us calmly as we skinned by.

The next few hours we would hike up a mountain, ski down it and repeat. It was an enjoyable route. We stopped for 30 minutes to eat lunch before heading back. When we crossed past where the buffalo was earlier in the day, we were sad to find that he was gone. The next few hours we hiked back to the parking lot. When we got close, we found the tourist path that lead through the area of “thermal features.”

This time we saw a lot of cool thermal pools and bubbling water sources. It was a really cool place. All and all, it was a fitting end to a truly memorable 4 days of ski touring in the remote areas of Yellowstone National Park. Close to 10 years removed from this experience, I still think about it often. It is difficult to find places that have not blown up with popularity. For those looking for a remote experience in what of the most beautiful places on earth, I strongly recommend you check out this ski touring option for your next trip.

-MikeHikesTheAlps, 2022

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