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Massive Snow Damage At Tioga Pass Resort, May Not Open This Season

YOSEMITE — After a winter of heavy snowfall, news from one of the Yosemite area’s favorite lodging destinations — the Tioga Pass Resort (TPR) — is not good.

Upon arriving at the resort on May 30 when the roadway was finally plowed enough to allow access, staff found the buildings buried beneath mountains of snow and were forced to cancel all reservations for the month of June.

By June 6, the impact of all that snow had revealed itself, and TPR posted this message on their Facebook page:

 

This is truly difficult news to deliver…

We have now discovered profound (structural) damage to the lodge building… it has been rendered completely unusable. If and when such is ultimately determined to be feasible, it will require extensive reconstruction to bring it back into service. Obviously, this will take some time to play out.

The cabins by all appearances have fared better. However, our electrical transmission/ distribution system for the resort is in shambles. Beyond that, we are faced with the high probability of unavoidable flooding of the creekside cabins and lodge in/over the next few weeks.

IT IS QUITE POSSIBLE THAT TPR WILL NOT OPERATE AT ALL THIS SUMMER. Any operations that might eventually occur would almost certainly be limited to cabin rental only in the late season.

As such, we will be canceling all current reservations through July over the next 48 hours or so. New reservations have also been frozen for the balance of the season for now. Beyond that, any post-July reservation holder is free to request cancellation/refund in consideration of this unforeseen turn of events.

TPR is loved by many. We know this information will hit some rather hard. We’ll do our best to keep you posted… but please understand that uncertainty is likely to rule the day for the foreseeable future.

Your enthusiasm for the resort is deeply appreciated.

In an interview with Valley Public Radio, Dave Levy, the resort’s general manager, blamed the damage on the huge snowfall this year, saying that more than 800 inches fell in the area over the winter. That’s more than 60 feet of snow.

“We’re almost triply buried,” Levy told VPR. “We literally had to dig our way into the back door of the main lodge. The building is certainly still standing, but it’s deformed.”

The Tioga Pass Resort is located at 9,550 feet in elevation between Tioga Lake and Ellery Lake on Highway 120 just north of the eastern entrance to Yosemite.

(Photos from TPR’s Facebook page. Below: TPR in summer)

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