HOW DID THE WINTER CLUB GET STARTED? “In the fall of 1928, Donald Tresidder, President of the Curry Company [the primary concessionaire in Yosemite National Park] formed the Yosemite Winter Club to ‘encourage and develop all forms of winter sports and to advertise and exploit the great advantages, beauties and healthy benefits of winter in the California Sierra to all lovers of outdoor life.’
Nine decades later to the present day, the winter club has played a leading role in the evolution of winter sports in California.” (Magic Yosemite Winters by Gene Rose; 1999:21). During the first five years of the Club’s formation, Badger Pass Ski resort opened and tobogganing and ice-skating took off in Curry Village.
Backcountry skiing was encouraged when the Tressiders had the Snow Creek Cabin constructed near the north rim of Yosemite Valley. By 1941, a second ski hut was built at Ostrander Lake. Both Snow Creek and Ostrander remain popular overnight, backcountry destinations, while ice-skating at Curry Village, and skiing at Badger Pass remain popular front-country destinations.
Today, the Yosemite Winter Club is comprised of hundreds of members who share enjoyment of winter sports in Yosemite. The Winter Club remains tightly linked with the National Park Service and Yosemite’s primary concessionaire, Aramark.
The purpose of this club is to foster regional amateur and recreational Nordic and Alpine snow skiing, snowboarding, skating competitions and events, while supporting and developing amateur athletes and recreational winter sport enthusiasts for such competitions and events.
The Yosemite Winter Club (YWC) is a non-profit organization bringing winter sporting opportunities to outdoor enthusiast since 1928.
Yosemite Winter Club, P.O. BOX 2002, Wawona, CA 95389 | 501c3 Tax ID number 56-2423307