Yosemite Profile: Chuck Carter – Badger Pass Ski School Director

If you’ve taken a ski or snowboard lesson at Badger Pass, odds are you’ve met Badger Pass Ski School Director, Chuck Carter. Soft-spoken, efficient and friendly, Chuck has been a fixture at Badger Pass for 46 winters, introducing new skiers and snowboarders to the slopes. That experience has given him a unique perspective on the ski area.

Chuck first fell in love with Badger Pass when he was in high school in Mariposa – sneaking up for a day on the slopes even though his football coach at the time prohibited it. The warm sierra sun gave him away when he and his teammates would show up back at practice with a tell-tale goggle tan, a tanned face, minus the area covered by ski goggles, but that still didn’t stop him.

Chuck Carter is celebrating his 46th winter at Badger Pass. Pictured here organizing ski and snowboard lessons.

Soon he met the legendary Nic Fiore. “Everybody knew Nic. He had such a big personality.” Nic arrived at Badger Pass just for the 1947-48 season but as he says, “Yosemite made such an impact on me. I fell in love with the place.” He ended up working at Badger Pass for more than 50 years, teaching more than an estimated 100,000 people how to ski, becoming a leader in the Professional Ski Instructors Association, and writing a book titled “So You Want to Ski”.

Chuck carries on Nic’s focus on teaching, and seems to be shooting for the same longevity. He started working as a part-time ski instructor for Nic Fiore in the winter of 1969-70, when he was in college, making the drive to Badger Pass every weekend and as many weekdays as possible.

Enjoying sunshine and a snack on the deck at Badger Pass.

What keeps him coming back year after year? First, it’s the people. Chuck enthusiastically mentions not only the instructors and Badger Pass staff from all the different departments, but also guests. “People come up every year for decades. It’s like seeing a bunch of old friends.” Plus, he loves being outside in Yosemite. Regulars to Badger Pass have fond memories of soaking in the bright Sierra sunshine from the deck.

When asked about what has changed during his time at Badger Pass, his answer is consistent with his focus on people — Nic’s retirement. Of course, there have been other changes as well, new lifts, and most recently a refresh that upgraded the deck and lodge, but according to Chuck, part of the beauty of Badger Pass is how faithful it has been to its roots. “The idea of it has stayed the same. It’s the same atmosphere as many years ago.”

Lessons at Badger Pass “It’s the same atmosphere as many years ago.”

Badger Pass Ski Area in Yosemite National Park: California’s First Ski Resort

The deck at Badger Pass Ski Area in 1939

Badger Pass Ski House in 1937

Did you know that we celebrated the 80th anniversary of Badger Pass Ski Area in 2015? Since 1935, California’s first ski resort has taught generations of families to enjoy winter sports. Offering rental equipment and ski instruction – now including snowboarding – visitors to Yosemite National Park of all ages can learn new winter sport skills at Badger Pass Ski Area. Legendary Badger Pass ski instructor and U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame member Nic Fiore once said, “Come to Yosemite. We have a ski school which really teaches people to ski and focuses on beginner and family. You can have a really lovely day here.”(2) Nic arrived in Yosemite in 1948 and never left. It is estimated that he taught over 100,000 people to ski during his time in Yosemite. Things haven’t really changed at Badger Pass since Nic’s days as head of the Yosemite Ski School. The Badger Pups program – one of the first children’s ski programs in the country – still teaches Yosemite’s youngest visitors to ski and snowboard.

Nic Fiore was director of the Yosemite Ski School from 1956 to 2001

Always modest in size, Badger Pass Ski Area doesn’t compare to the large ski resorts at Lake Tahoe or in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. At an elevation of 7300 feet, Badger Pass Ski Area’s longest run is only 800 feet, but the impact that Badger Pass had on the growing popularity of skiing looms large. Though ski touring was always a popular sport for the Yosemite community and winter visitors, the idea of a resort with lifts and groomed slopes occurred to the head of concessionaire Yosemite Park & Curry Company, Donald Tressider, in 1934. The opening of the Glacier Point Road and Wawona Tunnel in 1933 made it possible for the YP & CC to create Badger Pass Ski Area 23 miles from Yosemite Valley in 1934 with the Badger Pass Ski House completed in 1935. Competitive ski races and contests and the addition of experienced European ski instructors to the Yosemite Ski School contributed to the popularity of Badger Pass in California and skiing as a winter sport in the United States. By 1936, the world’s greatest skiers were practicing for the Winter Olympics, and by 1937, state skiing championship races were being held at Badger Pass. By the 1940s, Badger Pass was welcoming over 70,000 skiers during the winter season and Donald Tressider had become vice president of the California Ski Association.

The first mechanical ski lift at Badger Pass was also the first mechanical lift not only in California but in the American west. Known as the Up-ski, the lift had sleds (with nicknames like “Big Bertha” and “Queen Mary”) that carried 8 people at a time to “Ski-Top”, the start of the Rail Creek, Bishop Creek and Strawberry Creek runs. Today, only Rail Creek is marked as a ski run, accessible from Badger Pass for experienced backcountry skiers, but the lift is long gone after it’s thirteen years of service beginning in 1935. After World War II, the ski industry had grown and lured skiers to places like Aspen, Colorado and Sun Valley Idaho. With so many options for skiers across the nation, Badger Pass Ski Area had to distinguish itself with one of the ski industry’s first all-inclusive packages, called the “Mid-Week Ski Special”. This special included lodging, dining, equipment rental, lift ticket, lesson and transportation from Yosemite Valley all for $25 dollars a day!

The Up-Ski was the first mechanical ski lift in the American west

The Badger Pass Ski House (today’s day lodge) was designed by architect Eldridge T. Spencer and opened on December  17th in 1935. In 1954, the day lodge was enlarged by adding another building with a breezeway in between. The lounge area originally contained a large open fireplace with cast iron panels of skiing figures mounted above. The panels were designed by Robert Howard Boardman, who also designed the wildlife mural in the Mural Room at The Ahwahnee. The fireplace has since been removed, but the panels are now installed around the fireplace in the Mountain Room Lounge at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls in Yosemite Valley. Ski races continued to be hosted at Badger Pass during the 1950s and 1960s, though today only the Silver Ski race is hosted by the Yosemite Winter Club. In 1965, National Park Service approved the installation of chair lifts for the first time and the Badger Pass Ski House was renamed the Snowflake Day Lodge.

With all of it’s storied history, today’s winter visitor still finds Badger Pass Ski Area an uncomplicated place to take the family for a day of snowy fun in Yosemite. Snowboarders join skiers on the slopes and and a snow tubing hill has been added for the park’s youngest visitors. Equipment rental is available at the rental shop along with souvenirs and apparel at the ski shop. The free shuttle bus from Yosemite Valley provides daily transportation for lodging guests and private vehicles will find plenty of parking. Dine on the sun deck or inside the day lodge at the Skiers Grill or upstairs in the Snowflake Room. Rent lockers for your gear by the day or the season. Cross-country skiing is an option, along with snowshoeing, and rental equipment is available at the Cross-Country/Nordic Center. Groomed cross-country trails originate at Badger Pass and continue down the Glacier Point Road to the terminus at Glacier Point – one of Yosemite’s most spectacular views now covered with snow! If the 10 mile ski to Glacier Point is enough for one day, you can opt to stay overnight at the Glacier Point Ski Hut and cozy up to the fireplace while the hutkeeper prepares dinner. You won’t need to ski to earn your keep and enjoy winter in Yosemite Valley at The Ahwahnee, Yosemite Lodge at the Falls and Curry Village. Take advantage of great winter lodging deals like Stay Two Ski FREE and Stay ‘N Play.

 

 References:

1. Magic Yosemite Winters by Gene Rose

2. Mountain Dreamers: Visionaries of Sierra Nevada Skiing by Robert Frohlich

3. Yosemite’s Innkeepers: The Story of a Great Park and it’s Chief Concessionaires by Shirley Sargent

6 Ways to Enjoy Winter in Yosemite

1. Ice Skating

Where: Curry Village Ice Rink in Yosemite Valley
When: November through February 29
How: Skate rentals available – and don’t forget the s’mores kits for the fire pit!
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2. Skiing, Snowboarding and Snowtubing

Where: Badger Pass Ski Area
When: Mid-December through March
How: Lessons, rentals, and dining available
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3. Chefs’ Holidays

Where: The Ahwahnee
When: January and February
How: Dine with famous chefs and attend cooking demos in an historic national park lodge
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4. Ostrander Ski Hut or Glacier Point Ski Hut:

Where: Backcountry lodging along the Glacier Point Road
When: Mid-December through March
How: Not accessible by vehicle in winter, you can snowshoe or cross-country ski to Yosemite’s ski huts
http://instagram.com/p/wpfBB4y2Pb/?modal=true

5. Snowshoeing

Where: Badger Pass Ski Area
When: Every day when enough snow covers the ground, evenings during the full moon
How: Rent snowshoes at Badger Pass Ski Area on your own, join park rangers or Delaware North at Yosemite interpretive naturalists on guided walks (snowshoes included)
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6. Camera Walks

Where: Yosemite Valley
When: Several days a week in winter, find the schedule in the Yosemite Guide
How: With instructors from the Ansel Adams Gallery
http://instagram.com/p/wj5ghIS2Cr/?modal=true

Snow in Yosemite: Badger Pass Ski Area in Pictures

As California’s original ski resort, Badger Pass Ski Area has been a favorite winter activity in Yosemite National Park for generations of families. We invite you to enjoy some of our favorite Badger Pass photos, all taken by long-time Yosemite resident and acclaimed photographer Chris Falkenstein.

One of the many beautiful clear days at Badger Pass.

Skiers get ready to take to the mountain.

The base of the mountain on a snowy day.

A groomer prepares the runs.

Chuck Carter, head of Yosemite’s Winter Sports School, rings the ski school bell.

Snowboarders participate in a race at Badger Pass

The ranger station after a big snow.

The Day Lodge

Sunset at Badger Pass

Badger Cross Country Conditions Update

Stop in and say hi to some of the folks at the Nordic Center while you rent skis or snowshoes or sign up for a cross country ski lesson.

The Nordic Center at Badger Pass is open, so I grabbed my skate ski gear and headed up for a quick look-see before work. Given the warm temperatures, I was concerned about the conditions. I can be a real snow snob sometimes. However, the snow conditions were actually much better than I expected, and I had a fun little ski.

The cut-across from the parking area to the Glacier Point Road is pretty inelegant right now. I didn’t even bother putting my skis on until I’d walked out to the road, though the pair in front of me tried. It’s hardly an inspiring start, and I began to second guess my intentions, but then I got down to the road, and the promise of gliding over the snow kicked in and I was off.

Looking up the hill to Summit Meadow

The snow on the road is also thin, with bare patches in places, but in conditions like this I often think back to the time someone reminded me that you only ski on the top inch of snow anyway. Being a good skier, I had no problem at all avoiding the bare patches until Summit Meadow where the sun hasn’t been good to our snowpack. Generally speaking, the snow has a late spring feel – hard and a bit choppy in the morning, but heading up the hill to Summit Meadow I was surprised to find some really good snow underfoot too, firm but soft, perfect skating if you could string together a few miles of it. Hooray! I was skiing! That, combined with sunshine, and being outside in Yosemite, breathing in the fresh air made it all worthwhile.

Watch out for bare patches along the trail.

I met a few other hardy souls who were on the road as well. Two women with big backpacks were headed out to the Ostrander Ski Hut on telemark ski gear, another person taking a tour on her classic striding skis, and two different groups who planned to snowshoe out to Dewey Point. We talked about the conditions, and I realized that even if they had to take the snow-play gear off their feet, they were headed off to some amazing spots – beautiful even in the summer when there isn’t a lick of snow.

Don’t be afraid to take off your skis or snowshoes and walk. Yosemite is as beautiful as ever.

When I got back to the Nordic Center, I was greeted with giggles and peals of laughter from some people trying cross country skiing out for the first time, and Rick was getting ready to give a beginner lesson. That’s one of the things I love about the people who visit Yosemite in winter. Flexible and good-natured, they bring fun with them wherever they go.

By Theresa, Online Marketing Manager for DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite

Long Time Dinner Companion: Delaware North at Yosemite Employee Martha Miller

When you live and work in Yosemite National Park, you can learn many kinds of jobs, such as park ranger, ice rink attendant, tour bus driver, and restaurant manager. If you are Martha Miller living and working in Yosemite for the better part of 60 years, you start out as a teenaged ski instructor at Badger Pass Ski Area, move on to general manager of Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, and round out your career as a coordinator for holiday dining and events at The Ahwahnee. As a concession employee for the last six decades, Martha has served park visitors in these roles and many more (including Manager of the Quarter in 2004), making her the longest of the long-term employees at Yosemite National Park. Though a passion for the park is required to live here as long as she has, Martha also has passion for other things in life, including her horses and another career as an opera production manager. In between Yosemite seasonal gigs, Martha led a double life of worldly sophistication as production manager or touring company manager for various opera companies including the San Francisco Spring Opera (where she began as a volunteer in 1961), Fresno Opera and the English National Opera. She had studied music in school and later toured the world in this capacity, but returned to Yosemite year after year. From her humble beginnings as a teen at Badger Pass, Martha also went on to become one of the first female Professional Certified Ski Instructors.

Martha Miller on a ski trip near Tioga Pass in Yosemite.

Today, summers find Martha in Tuolumne Meadows and winters find her employing her extensive production background at The Ahwahnee as a special events coordinator. Specifically, Martha assists with the Bracebridge Dinner at Yosemite production, an historic holiday dinner event with musical entertainment that has been hosted in the hotel’s dining room since it opened in 1927. Martha has participated in Bracebridge Dinner in various roles, even being trained for duty by Ansel Adams, famed Yosemite photographer and an early producer of the event. She also coordinates the holiday activities surrounding the production for hotel guests and park visitors during the holiday season. Martha’s favorite thing about working Bracebridge Dinner is getting to know the performers. When asked her favorite thing about working in Yosemite, Martha said, “I love hiking and skiing, but no way I can say one job or the other – they are all special.”

Martha Miller at The Ahwahnee’s Bracebridge Dinner at Yosemite.

Yosemite Winter Club Pray for Snow Party and Gear Swap

Join a fun group of fellow winter sport lovers for a start of the season celebration. The Yosemite Winter Club is hosting their annual Pray for Snow Party and Gear Swap at the Garden Terrace in Yosemite Lodge on November 16, 2012 at 5pm. The $25 entry fee includes:

•  A delicious BBQ style dinner (cash bar)
• Annual membership dues – including benefits such as 50% off lift tickets at Badger Pass, ice skating, winter rental gear, discounted Badger Pass season passes, discounted Yosemite Winter Club events and more – not to mention the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing that you’ll be part of a winter sports tradition that dates back all the way to 1928, and you’ll help support local youth participation in winter sports.
• Cool Yosemite Winter Club SWAG – coasters (free) and pint glasses ($5/each)
• Chance to win one of 30 free lift tickets to Badger Pass Ski Area
• Warren Miller films to get you even more excited about the upcoming season

Plus, this is a great chance for you to clean out your gear closet – or maybe find that piece of equipment that you’ve been looking for – at the Gear Swap. Drop your gear off at 3pm for the swap (there’s no charge to drop things off), and you can either sell on consignment, donate the proceeds to the winter club, or pass it along for free.

Visit Badger Pass at the Fresno Ski Swap

We’re all getting excited for the upcoming ski season, and we just got a nice base layer from the recent snow. If you’re getting excited about the winter season too, be sure to stop by and visit the Badger Pass Ski Area booth at the Fresno Ski Club’s Annual Ski Swap and Sale this weekend. The event is Nov 9 – 11 at the former Border’s Book Store in River Park (110 El Camino Blvd). Stop by to purchase season passes and enter for a chance to win a five-night stay at The Ahwahnee complete with breakfast, skiing and other Yosemite winter activities. Badger is also offering season passes and ski lessons in the raffle.

“Got Snow?” Contest Winners

Star-spangled, carmel corn, candy snowman

Congratulations to our creative snowmen designers who won the “Got Snow?” contest! It’s hard to complain about the beautiful sunny days that we’ve been having lately, but it’s always good to dream up some winter white, and happy snow-people like this one.

First prize, four lift tickets at Badger Pass Ski Area, went to Kathi A. for her star-spangled, carmel corn, candy snowman. Second prize, two snowshoe rentals at Badger Pass, went to Carolina D. for the picture of her lovely “Minne-snow-ta” wedding snow couple made out of rice crispie treats and fondant. Third prize, a Yosemite beanie hat, went to Jackie M. for the creative mini forest snowman and his friend.

Thanks “snow” much everyone!

“Got Snow?” Contest

This is a snowman pizza we created to inspire you. Let's be honest, we enjoyed eating it too!

Now that we have a bunch of snow on the ground, we are starting to see snowmen everywhere! Celebrate snow with our “Got Snow?” contest by creating a multi-tiered snowman using any materials.

Submit a photo of your snowman to contests@dncinc.com by 2/1 at 12 p.m. PST. Multiple entries are welcome. Grand prize is four adult lift tickets at Badger Pass Ski Area, 2nd prize is two snowshoe rentals at Badger and 3rd prize is a Yosemite beanie hat. And once you’re done, wander on over to our Yosemite Facebook page and share your creation there – or just get inspired.