The Yellowstone Skier's Yurt Camp provides the ultimate winter wilderness experience for snowshoers seeking comfort and adventure. Nestled in a serene pine forest just a half-mile from the majestic Grand Canyon and Falls of the Yellowstone River, the camp offers heated private sleeping huts and a cozy dining room yurt, perfect for socializing with fellow skiers after a long day on the trails. The luxury amenities, including a camp shower, sauna, and well-lit outhouse, provide a level of comfort that surpasses traditional winter camping. The camp is accessible only by a 40-mile snowcoach shuttle from West Yellowstone, making our location in the heart of Yellowstone National Park even more unique. You won't find any other overnight visitor accommodations within 35 miles of our ski camp, so come experience the true beauty and solitude of the winter wilderness with us.
Our two Yurts, heated by a wood burning stove and lit by 12-volt solar rechargable LED light bulbs, serve as the camp social center, kitchen, and dining area. The Dining Room Yurt serves as the common area for eating and socializing, while our delicious family-style meals are prepared in the Kitchen Yurt. Yurts similar to ours were originally used as portable homes by nomadic Mongolian tribes, who called them "gers" (rhymes with bears). Designed to survive the brutal weather of Mongolia's high plateaus, yurts function exquisitely as a "home" for back-country skiers. (Various articles about yurts appear in several issues of National Geographic.)
The two person sleeping huts (yurtlets) are lit by solar recharged and battery powered electric lanterns. Each yurtlet is equipped and outfitted with a double or two single beds, sleeping bags and sheets, pillows, cozy comforters, a clothes line and hooks for hanging and drying ski clothes, and a propane heater for warmth. All you need to bring is your personal gear, skis and an adventurous spirit.
Our Main Yurts are surrounded by several smaller, double occupancy private heated tent cabins (we call them sleeping huts or "yurtlets"). The private "yurtlets" are each heated by a propane heater with an adjustable thermostat. The adjustable thermostat in each "yurtlet" allows guests to control the heat level to provide carefree warmth that insures comfortable sleeping even on the coldest nights.
We also have a wonderful Cedar Camp Sauna (most guests like it at about 160 degrees F.) Many of our guests enjoy making "bare chested snow angels" outside the sauna (I'm sorry, but even the Norwegian ancestry in me does not understand, it must be a Finnish thing).
We can provide you with plenty of fresh hot water for washing in our heated camp shower facility. We heat the water in the kitchen yurt, place it in a "sun shower" bag and then hang it in the heated shower building. It is another one of those simple solutions for life's simple problems.
We believe the availability of a sauna and hot shower at the end of the day lends our camp an air of backwoods elan.
Meals at the Yurt Camp are served family style in the Dining Room Yurt.
We have vegetarian options for all of our meals and can accommodate special dietary needs such as food allergies.
When Genghis Khan was busy piecing together his Mongolian Empire during the thirteenth century, the yurt was providing shelter for the average wandering Mongolian. The Mongol needed a home that was very portable, that could be transported on one or two beasts of burden, and that was easy to heat during the harsh Mongolian winters. The yurt was ideal at meeting all of these requirements. Although the yurt structure comes down to us from the Mongols, the name "yurt" comes to the western world from Russian merchants, traders, and marauders of many years ago. To the Mongol his home was known as a "ger" (rhymes with bear), simply meaning "dwelling".
There have been several articles written about yurts and gers in National Geographic Magazine. Also, PBS aired a special documentary, about gers a few years ago.
We purchased new yurts in the fall of 2018. We selected yurts manufactured by Pacific Yurts, located in Cottage Grove, Oregon. We could barely fit the two yurts (a 20-ft diameter yurt for the kitchen and a 24-ft diameter yurt for the dining room) onto the truck and trailer.
