Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park in Winter January-February 2001 (snowmobile update: February 2004) by Shayok Mukhopadhyay
When to go | Getting around | Getting there | Clothing | Accommodation | Attractions | Photography | Tips | References	Gallery

If you're (a) a little adventuresome, (b) willing to grin and bear cold to a certain extent, (c) can afford it (say, three thousand U.S. dollars for two), you should go to Yellowstone in winter. The geology and the elements combine to produce unique sights that, I believe, are not seen in too many other parts of the world. Boiling waters flowing out of colorful and sulfurous geyzers keep rivers flowing; bisons stumble as they cross these rivers in search of food; they're silhouetted in the thick fog that the warm vapors condense into in the frigid air. If (a) and (c) apply only partly to you, consider taking a field-course at the Yellowstone Association. The best part of their winter courses (which I havent taken) is that they include accommodation inside the park, which otherwise costs quite a bit. Most of this article is aimed at independent travelers.

Having gone all the way to this corner where Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana meet, it doesnt make sense not to reconnoitre the small, but nonetheless impressive, Grand Teton National Park. Wandering outside this park's boundaries into adjoining national forests and farming communities buried in snow is interesting too.

It'll often be -20°F (-30°C) when you're about, but you can sleep in a warm room at the end of the day, so it's not all that much to ask of your body. What follows is a combination of my pre-trip research and ideas I picked up in the course of nine bitterly cold, but beautiful days.

For your (American) attorney

In summary, Yellowstone is practically closed from early November to mid-December and mid-March to mid-April.

Getting Around in the Parks

With restraining orders being exchanged like service breaks, I advice you to check NPS's press releases and winter activities page while planning your trip.]

This is one of the most important decisions to make while planning your trip; among other things, it determines which town you fly into.

Provided you're not the cavalier type, snowmobiles are easy and safe to ride; I'd never used one before, it took me a few hours to get comfortable. (Disclaimer: I'm fine with driving in New York City traffic, and used to be comfortable driving in Calcutta, so my driving skills may be above average.) Your other option for over-snow transport is the snowcoach, which is usually a van mounted on military tank-type tracks instead of wheels. Without having traveled in a snowcoach, here's my take at the pros and cons of the two forms of transport.

Snowmobile	Snowcoach
Noisy, polluting, bumpy, cold. Polluting enough that they're banned from all national parks in the U.S. except Yellowstone and Grand Teton, where they're scheduled to be gradually phased out in two years. This has apparently woken up the snowmobiling industry which is now prototyping less polluting, low-performance (read "less fun") versions.	Quiet, less polluting, smooth, comfortable. However, sudden change of temperature as you get out to snap a shot may cause condensation problems with your cameras if adequate precautions are not taken.
Unobstructed view; unimpeded communion with the elements.	Per some reports, windows keep frosting over, and have to be sprayed with anti-freeze continually.
Stop wherever/whenever you want; particularly important if you're a keen photographer.	Pray for a set of like-minded co-passengers and co-operative driver.
Relatively good bang for the buck (i.e. $100/day approx.) if rented from town of West Yellowstone, apparently the "snowmobiling capital of the world", especially if your party consists of even number of people. (Two-seaters only marginally more expensive than single-seaters.)	You're mostly at the mercy of the Amfac, the NPS-licensed monopoly. You're charged per person.

If snowcoaches were run on fixed routes on regular schedules, so that you were relatively free to hop off and hop on, I'd consider using them, especially on a first visit, when there's enough to see and photograph at the standard points of interest, but unfortunately such services do not exist yet.

The N.P.S. had planned on eliminating snowmobile use by winter of 2003-2004; however, under terms of settlement of a lawsuit by various interest groups, a further environmental impact study is being done; its report will be made available in the first half of 2002. Till then, snowmobile use will continue. It would seem that a good compromise would be the introduction of the quieter, slower, and less polluting four-stroke engined snowmobiles, which will also keep the jocks away.

If you decide to use snowmobiles exclusively for transportation within the park, it makes sense to rent them from West Yellowstone. Your two other options are to rent from Amfac inside the park, or from Flagg Ranch Resort, at the southern boundary of the park, but both of these charge much more than the highly competitve West Yellowstone operations, who'll also allow you to keep the vehicle overnight if you're renting for consecutive days.

Amfac operates snowcoaches from the Flagg Ranch and West Yellowstone entrances of the park to the Old Faithful lodge, and between Old Faithful and Mammoth. Snowcoach tours of the park operate out of Mammoth and Old Faithful; snowmobile rentals are available at both of these locations. Free luggage transportation by snowcoach is available to guests of Old Faithful and Mammoth lodges. This comes in particularly handy if you're entering the park by snowmobile, which doesnt have too much luggage room.

Transportation in Grand Teton

For Grand Teton, this is a trivial question; the main paved road going through the park is a state highway (Rte. 191) and is plowed throughout winter. A four-wheeled drive motor vehicle is your best option to tackle the icy shoulders.

When you're on your own steam

Skis or snowshoes. Snowshoes simply increase the surface area of your support. It seemed to me that, for a first timer, cross-country skiing requires more skill than snowshoeing. Since we were not on a backcountry trip per se, we opted for snowshoes, which are easier to carry too. Note that we couldnt have seen much of Grand Teton without snowshoes, where we often had to go through snow several feet deep from the parking lots to the viewpoints. Unlike east coast snow, it was powdery dry, and we were sinking in quite a bit in spite of snowshoes. They may be rented from inside (Yellowstone only) or outside the parks, but we managed to get hold of two used pairs from our local sports store (American Terrain, White Plains, NY), where we first rented to try out the idea.

Getting There

The airports in the area that are operational in winter are Jackson Hole, Wyoming (the airport, interestingly, is inside the Grand Teton boundaries); Idaho Falls, Idaho; Bozeman, Montana. West Yellowstone's airport is open in summer only. We wanted to snowmobile in Yellowstone, so getting to and out of West Yellowstone easily was important for us. Bozeman, MT is the only airport with public transportation to West Yellowstone. Round trip shuttle tickets cost about $60 per head (4x4 Stage: 1-800-517-8243; Carst Stage: 1-800-287-4759); the route is beautiful and the ride is about two hours each way – a good driver will point out the sights along the road (sheep, bald eagles, moose, old forest fire scars, Ted Turner's ranch, Brad Pitt's fishing hut). We decided to fly into Bozeman, take the bus to West Yellowstone, rent a snowmobile from there, spend a few days in Yellowstone Park, return the snowmobile and pick up a rental car in West Yellowstone (Budget: 1-406-646-7882), drive to Jackson Hole, spend a few days exploring Grand Teton, drive back to West Yellowstone, return the rental, take the bus back to Bozeman. Easy, see?

Alternative Strategies

If you were only planning to visit Yellowstone, and only driving there (thus restricting yourself to the stretch between Mammoth and Cooke City), flying into Bozeman and renting a car from there (it's closest to Mammoth) would be a natural choice. If your primary interest is Grand Teton, book a flight to Jackson Hole. You might then consider taking a snowmobile or snowcoach trip or two from Flagg Ranch (which is at the northern tip of Grand Teton and southern tip of Yellowstone) into Yellowstone.

What to Wear

This is your life we're talking about, so pay close attention. If you're not already a winter outdoors person, budget about five hundred dollars on gear. We followed the Yellowstone Association-recommended list, modified to our budget and need-perceptions. We would be snowmobiling, thus exposing ourselves to, say, 30mph winds; when the thermometer reads 0°F (-18°C), this adds up to a frightening -48°F (-44.4°C) of windchill. Also to be kept in mind is that the rear passenger will be colder than the driver.

At the coldest, we were wearing the following: balaclava (ski-mask), followed by thick, multi-layered acrylic cap, with helmet while snowmobiling, windcheater hood otherwise; polypro underwear on upper and lower body; thick cotton shirt, woollen vest, thick woollen sweater, high-neck fleece jacket, cheap, plasticky windcheater to keep the wind out; fleece pants, cheap, plasticky ski pants to keep wind out and pants dry in case of snow-tumble; polypro inner socks, thick woollen socks, Gore-Tex hiking boots, garter covering upper part of boots and lower part of pants to keep snow from getting into boots; polypro inner gloves, Polartec and/or water-proof gloves. If you're handling a camera, you'll want to keep your fingers nimble, especially while changing film. Thick leather gloves are useless.

Were we warm? Most of the time. It's difficult to be absolutely snug sitting in the pillion of a snowmobile riding across a howling, tree-less, snow-covered plain. What caused me most discomfort were my feet. (My wife, on the other hand, felt OK.) Nothing I could do for them was enough. They would perspire and soon be wet and cold. Chemical toe-warmers didnt burn a calorie. Insulated boots rented from the snowmobile operator didnt help. A park ranger suggested that I put a plastic grocery bag between the two layers of socks; this, apparently, would serve as a vapor barrier. I'd heard somewhere that wrapping your feet in plastic is a guaranteed recipe for frostbite. Deciding that I couldnt be more uncomfortable, and resigned to give up a foot to the cause of science, I followed the ranger's advice for one foot, and used the other as a control. Maybe I was marginally warmer (definitely much wetter) in the foot with the grocery bag; I didnt get frostbite, but neither foot felt very good.

However, we didnt become a statistic. Which is what the snowmobile guy feared might become of us when we refused to rent the clumsy, thick, single-layered snowmobile suits from him that people were pulling right over their jeans (the absolute worst material to wear in a Wyoming winter). He even felt my thin windcheater between his thumb and forefinger with disdain. Stay strong, we told ourselves.

Where to Stay

The Old Faithful Snow Lodge gives you the best position for exploring the park. Capacity is vastly reduced in winter compared to summer, so reserve in advance. We did the reservations from the Amfac website (linked from the lodging page of the N.P.S. Yellowstone site); much to our chagrin, we discovered on arrival at Old Faithful that there are more reasonably priced rooms that are not listed on the site. What's more, these cheaper rooms are in the main building, so you dont have to face the cold night after a full dinner. Moral of the story: use the good old telephone when dealing with Amfac.

Amfac's Mammoth Lodge too is open in winter; its rooms are extremely small. If you wish to economize on accommodation, you might want to stay outside the park; since Gardiner is only five miles from Mammoth, this makes perfect sense if you're exploring that part of Yellowstone; however, the distance from West Yellowstone to any interesting part of the park is too much (by snowmobile) to be worth the trouble, I think. You could camp in the backcountry, but then you wouldnt be reading this article. The Mammoth campground is open all year.

There is no accommodation available in winter inside Grand Teton, so you can either stay at the overpriced Flagg Ranch Resort, or in Jackson Hole.

Both Jackson Hole and West Yellowstone are milling with motels and hotels; pick your price range.

What to see: Yellowstone

Nothing in Yellowstone disappointed us. We spent five days there, and wished we had more time. This was partly due to the fact that I was keen on taking good pictures (always a time-consuming affair), and was bewitched by the fog and vapors hovering over the geyzers and shifting with the winds, sometimes engulfing us in sulfurous odor, sometimes revealing sights we couldnt guess existed. Microbial growths color these unpredictably bubbling pools. It was as much as Revathi could do to tear me away from the geyzer basins. West Thumb, towards the southern end of the park, is simply not to be missed; if I had time, I'd've visited the place more than once. The surreal heaps of snow surrounding the steaming pools make an unforgettable experience.

You'll definitely see bison, eking out a bleak living from grass buried under the snow; you actually feel for these bumbling creatures, almost too stupid to migrate to warmer climes. Please turn off your snowmobile engine when you stop for them – spare the animals and fellow humans those noxious fumes. Though trumpeter swan are supposed to be plentiful, we saw only a few of them. Dunno if it was a wolf or a coyote, but a quiet, furry, solitary, dog-like creature softly padding its way in the distance across the white landscape gradually sinking into darkness was a spine-tingling sight.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is spectacular for its sheer depth; you dont see too much of the colorful rocks that it's famous for, being mostly covered by snow. Unfortunately, we went there on a day overcast with a vengeance, so the photography was rather dull. The gas station at Canyon closes at five, we were there at ten past. The attendant wanted extra money to start the pump; on an impulse, we refused. Going on low gas, with endless lodgepole pine forests on either side, perfectly groomed snow on the road, not a soul seen for twenty miles to Norris Basin, winter night steadily setting in, next ranger patrol possibly hours away, the quiet absolute as absolute zero shattered by just our machine – this is an experience difficult to recreate on a full tank.

If there was anything I'd suggest leaving out, it'd be Mammoth, which is known for its springs, unfortunately frozen to death in winter. I'd swap it for Hayden Valley and Fishing Bridge, which we didnt have time for. When we did our trip we didnt know about the Boiling River Hot Springs in the neighborhood of Mammoth, two miles south of Gardiner. An article by a local describes it as "Swimsuits: Technically required, but in the winter you can usually do whatever comes natural... The Boiling River is often jam-packed in the summertime; but in winter it can be one of those places where you get the unshakable feeling that you're getting away with something...It being the off-season, you'll probably have the place to yourself – except, of course, for the Park's furry full-time residents, which are often seen grazing on the far bank."

What to see: Grand Teton

While Grand Teton National Park doesnt have the spectacular variety of Yellowstone, it's interesting for its wide vistas and grand views, mostly of the Teton peaks that rise to the west of Route 191 that runs north-south through the park. Apparently, the famous shot of the Snake River made by Ansel Adams only exists in his prints now; the forest has grown to change the view. The weather didnt co-operate with us, so we never really had an unobstructed view of the Teton peaks.

Armed with a four wheel drive, you should not be afraid to explore off the main highway; going by my brief experience, rural Wyoming can be extremely graphic in winter.

If you really want to take good pictures in Yellowstone and Grand Teton, particularly in winter, you should visit them more than once. The beauty and the cold are too overwhelming to make great shots straight off the bat, without some experience of those conditions. You're so mesmerized by the fog rising out of the geyzers; can you bring out the smell of burning sulfur on film? Here's a selection from my efforts.

I carried various focal lengths from 20mm to 200mm, plus a 1.4x multiplier, and used all of them at some time or the other, and I wasnt really shooting for wildlife. Since I didnt have too much equipment, I carried it all around my waist or hung from my neck; this protected them from the brutal shocks of snowmobile rides; in spite of that, I managed to lose a screw-on hood, a U.V. filter, and a lens cap. If you have lot of gear, you'll have to rent a sledge to tow behind your snowmobile. You'll need to cover the sledge with a waterproof sheet, and put the equipment in really well-padded cases – the sledges dont have any shock-absorbing system.

Always carry enough film on your person; I was actually too cold and tired to walk couple of hundred yards to fetch film from the snowmobile when I ran out of color transparency at West Thumb.

Condensation is a serious issue; before taking cold equipment into a warm room, put it in a plastic garbage bag and tie the mouth. Lithium batteries behaved well; they didnt lose power despite the cameras being carried exposed to the wind on snowmobile. If you have a medium format camera with a waist-level finder, that'll be an asset – your viewfinder wont be fogging up with your breath all the time like with an eye-level finder.

And dont put away your camera moment you get into the plane. With luck, you might get some nice aerial shots. I like to use a high contrast film (e.g. Velvia) to cut through the haze in the air and the crud on the window.

Little items to make life easier

Eyeglasses keep fogging up and are a pain; I imagine contact lenses would make life easier. One morning it was cold enough at Old Faithful that my breath kept freezing on my glasses. Foggone®, purchased from a ski store, helped a bit while chipping the ice off the lenses, but did nothing to prevent the condensation in the first place.

Additional Reading

1. Must read: Yellowstone Winter Guide, by Jeff Henry, Robert Rinehart Publishers, Boulder, Colorado. Includes mile by mile descriptions. I bought my copy from the Yellowstone Association Store.
2. For photographers: Photograph America Newsletters, back issues #3, #28.
3. National Park Service web-pages for Yellowstone, and Grand Teton.

© 2001 Shayok Mukhopadhyay

Comment on Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park in Winter

I have seen some of the pictures before, and have commented on them. I like the small frozen pond "West Thumb" in particular.

The recent ones are great. However, I still feel that they would have been greater if you had chosen a slightly different angle. Now that you use a digital camera, you can click as many as you want, at no cost, and choose the best of them. This advice, of course, is not in line with what Ansel Adams would have given, for he researched on his pictures well before he clicked them. Times have changed. If he were alive in this digital age, he too might have clicked away from more that one angle. Let me tell you, clicking many pictures of the same subject is simple; choosing the right one for display is the most difficult task. You have to be ruthless while rejecting the not-so-good ones.

If you choose to be Pictorial Travel Photographer, you have the license to retouch your pictures. Mind you, this is allowed only in Photography as a “Pictorial Fine Art”.

Anyway, I am sure you will gradually accept my views. I wish you all the best. I hope to hear from you. Keep in touch with me, a fellow photographer.

Narendra N. Acharya [25Feb2006 (6:38am); home]

Narendra N. Acharya     Fri, 24 Feb 2006 20:12:36 -0500