Yosemite Reservations

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AHWAHNEE HOTEL CELEBRATES ITS 80TH ANNIVERSARY
Mike Morris
The Union Democrat
5 October 2007
What started out 80 years ago as a way to attract influential lawmakers and wealthy San Franciscans to Yosemite National Park remains one of the most impressive hotels in the country.
Over the decades, movie stars, rock musicians, American presidents and international royalty have all slept and dined at the Ahwahnee — a massive, six-story hotel with views of Half Dome and Yosemite Falls.
“It’s considered, if not the grandest, one of the grandest lodges in the United States. I
would like to think it is the grandest,” said Kenny Karst — spokesman for DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite, the concessionaire that operates the Ahwahnee.
The posh hotel boasts numerous connections to Tuolumne and Calaveras counties.
In the dining room, Sonora-raised Diestel turkeys are served, while products of Vallecito’s Twisted Oak Winery can be found on the wine list. And each of the hotel’s 123 rooms — 99 in the main building and 24 cottages — have handmade soaps from Yosemite Soap Works of Twain Harte.
Carla Asquith, who makes soap deliveries once or twice a month, said when she has the chance she likes to stop by the hotel’s ground-level bar to soak up some Ahwahnee atmosphere.
“If you’d like a nice drink or a spendy but tasty hors d’oeuvre, I’d highly recommend the place,” she said, adding “they have a nice little piano player in there sometimes.”
A lavish level
The bar area was originally going to be the hotel’s main entrance, but the idea was scrapped just weeks before its opening in July 1927.
Hotel architects didn’t want to disturb guests staying above what is now the bar, so they built an elaborate red carpet walkway on the other side of the building leading to the lobby.
The Ahwahnee’s impressive lobby was used as a model for the Overlook Hotel in “The Shining,” Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film staring Jack Nicholson. Earlier this year, Karst provided both historic and current pictures of the Ahwahnee to the producer of an upcoming DVD about the making of that film.
Surrounding the lobby is a concierge desk, gift shop and sweet shop, where visitors can purchase items like wine and chocolates.
Sonora resident Ron Good worked as a sales clerk in the gift shop and sweet shop for about two years.
“I really enjoyed getting to meet people from all over America and all over the world. Basically, everyone is on vacation and in good spirits,” he said. “My first question was always, ‘Where are you from?’ It was really cool to hear people talk about where they came from.”
The hotel’s main floor is a blend of many cultures with artistic rugs from the Middle East hanging on the walls, handwoven Native American baskets on display in glass cases and German Gothic chandeliers dangling from the ceiling.
Ahwahnee is actually a Native American word translating to, “place of the gaping mouth.”
Tourists read newspapers and type on laptops in the Great Lounge, which has high sweeping ceilings, giant oak tables and intricate stained glass windows.

Large photographs in the lounge show cowboys, American Indians and famed naturalist John Muir.
Off one wing of the Great Lounge is the Solarium — a popular spot for wedding receptions where partygoers can view Glacier Point.
Next door is the “Winter Club Room,” which has old skis and snowshoes hung on the wall as well as historic photos from Badger Pass Ski Area.
Across from there is the “Mural Room” with a copper fireplace and a rich mural that supposedly includes every mammal found in the park.
“I like this room,” Karst said during a tour of the hotel. “It has a nice warm feeling.”
High-profile guests
While any park visitor can wander the Great Lounge and surrounding areas, it takes money — and a lot of it — to spend the night.
Rooms range from a basic accommodation at $426 a night, plus tax, to the JFK Suite, which costs up to $1,400 a night. The latter got its name because John F. Kennedy stayed there during his presidency in 1962.
A slew of politicians and celebrities have stayed and dined at the Ahwahnee, including actors Brad Pitt, Robert Redford and Mel Gibson, and singers Reba McEntire and Barbara Streisand.
England’s Queen Elizabeth II arrived in 1983 with an entourage of 42. Other royal guests have included the emperor of Ethiopia, the king of Belgium and the queen of Nepal.
Good recalls hotel management opening the gift shop early several years ago so that Ted Turner and Jane Fonda could shop there without any crowds.
And he said once a “crazy rock climber sales clerk” was fired after he climbed up to the second-level hotel room of Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek.
“The management didn’t think it was too funny,” Good said of the stunt.
From its inception, the Ahwahnee was intended to bring affluent people into Yosemite and, in turn, increase funding and support for the park.
The Ahwahnee was the vision of Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service.
In 1925, he ordered then-concessionaire Yosemite Park and Curry Company to build a first-class hotel that would be open year-round and draw people of wealth and influence.
Rich history
Among Mather’s criteria was that the hotel be fireproof.
What appear to be redwood logs on the outside of the hotel are actually dyed concrete. The only real wood is the shutters.
The hotel’s slate roof was replaced in 2004, with the rock coming from the same quarry in Vermont from which the original slate roof came.
The granite stone on the hotel’s exterior was also shipped in from outside the park. Despite being surrounded by granite, none of Yosemite’s rock was used, to protect the park’s natural resources, Karst said.
In 1943, the U.S. Navy converted the luxury hotel into a convalescent hospital for sailors. The Great Lounge became a dormitory for 350 men, the sweet shop was converted into a commissary and the dining room was transformed into a mess hall.
Shortly before Christmas 1946, the Ahwahnee reopened to guests.
For the past 20 years, the hotel has been listed as a National Historic Landmark.
“Very little has changed in the hotel during the past 80 years,” Karst said. “That’s part of the charm.”
The Ahwahnee’s elegant dining room, which seats 335, has dramatic 34-foot-high beamed ceilings.
Each December, the room serves as the backdrop to the famous Bracebridge Dinners, three-hour Christmas pageants featuring a seven-course gourmet dinner, costumed characters, carols and dancing.
Ahwahnee love
Bob and Mary Anderson, owners of V Restaurant and Bar on Main Street in Murphys, actually got engaged in the Ahwahnee’s dining room while they were both working there in 1983.
The couple, who married the following year in the Yosemite Valley Chapel, were introduced by a dining room waiter.
Mary worked at the dining room’s bar, while Bob worked his way up to executive chef. He cooked for a diverse group of celebrities, including film director Francis Ford Coppola, members of the heavy-metal band Metallica and First Lady Laura Bush.
When asked about his most memorable experiences as chef, he recalled the “invigorating” task of chasing bears out of the dining room.
So how exactly did he get them out?
“I found that two plate covers banged together works better than anything,” he said.

A WEEKEND OF WINE
Marshall Crook
The Wall Street Journal
13 November 2007
For aspiring sommeliers, or those who just enjoy wine, the Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite is offering its annual Winemaster’s Weekend, Feb. 29 to March 2. Activities include Saturday workshops — including one on pairing food and wine, and another on international styles of Pinot Noir — a wine-blending competition, two wine receptions and a five-course dinner.
The event is organized in conjunction with the Department of Viticulture and Enology of California State University, Fresno. Cost is $656 for two based on double occupancy. The resort is two-miles south of the National Park in Fish Camp, Calif. For information, and an early-bird booking discount, visit http://www.tenayalodge.com/.

ROYAL HIGHNESS: TRIBUTE TO A LIFE WELL-LIVED
Royal Robbins
The Modesto Bee
11 September 2007
There has been a lot of press lately on hiking to the top of Yosemite’s beautiful monolith, Half Dome, much of it focused on crowded conditions on the final section using cables and on several unfortunate accidents that have taken place there.
My goal is to suggest a way of getting to the top of the celebrated peak while avoiding crowds and injury.
I have been to the top of Half Dome often, five times via new routes on the big Northwest Face. In fact, this year, my companions, Mike Sherrick and Jerry Gallwas, and I celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of the face in June of 1957. I also have climbed the Southwest Face by two routes that were there when I arrived. And I have gone up the cable stairway several times.
I mention these ascents because I want to establish that what follows is born of personal experience, not book-learning.
Let’s begin at the beginning … what we do in advance of the actual ascent.
First, let’s deal with the question “Why climb Half Dome”?
The answer is that it’s the most prominent peak in Yosemite. After you have climbed it, you can always look back up from the valley and say, “I was there!”
Make no mistake, climbing Half Dome by any route is a genuine accomplishment. It’s a 16-mile round trip and a gain (and loss) of nearly 5,000 feet in elevation, starting at about the 4,000 foot level in Yosemite Valley and ending atop the dome at an elevation of 8,842 feet.
That’s why you climb Half Dome. It’s prominent. It’s beautiful. And it’s a grueling accomplishment for which you will be forever proud. It perfectly answers that call of the human spirit that urges us to climb mountains. A mountaintop is a symbol, a symbol of challenge we are capable of overcoming if we set our minds and hearts to the task.

PREPARATION
Let’s divide this section into four parts: (1) imagining the ascent, (2) setting a date, (3) training and (4) gear.
1. Picture yourself doing it.
It’s helpful to get a mental image of what you are proposing and how you are going to do it.
You start early in the morning, with a headlamp to light the way. The trail leads you up to the bridge across the cataract below Vernal Fall. You cross the bridge and climb up beside Vernal. It’s steep, with more than 100 stone steps. From the top of Vernal, you follow the path back across another bridge over the Merced River and then up more stone steps to the top of Nevada Fall.
Shortly after reaching the top, the trail forks and you take the left branch to the north. This trail leads slowly up and up through the giant Sierra forest with its sugar pines, red firs and groves of incense ciders to the “shoulder” below the cable leading up the northeast flank of the dome. Here you find more stone steps and climb these, placing one foot above another until you are at the beginning of the cable.
With a hand on each cable, you ascend the final 500 feet to the top of the dome, breathless, but wide-eyed and happy. You’ve done it! The world lies at your feet.
2. Set a date
I recommend late summer or early fall. Anytime in September and the first half of October usually is good. Unless a storm is coming through (always a possibility), it’s a period of usually fine weather. The air is crystal clear, there are no insects, and thunderstorms are less likely. Also, the walk up past Vernal Fall is drier. Spring is very beautiful, with water flowing everywhere, but the weather is more changeable and insects are abundant. The same is mostly true of summer, with the additional challenge of lots and lots of people eager to enjoy Yosemite Valley, and many eager to get to the top of Half Dome.
If you climb Half Dome in the summer, definitely do not do so on weekends; even during other times of the year, go midweek if you can. One nice thing about being close to Yosemite is that you have greater choice about when to visit. If you come from afar, as most visitors do, you are more limited in your choices. Also, it’s good to remember that the cables are taken down in October to keep them from being avalanched away. They are put back up at the end of the winter season, usually in April. The dates will vary depending upon snow conditions, so check with the National Park Service Web site to make sure the cables will be there for you.
3. Training
You want to be fit. It’s true that many seemingly unfit people make it to the top of the dome, but many also get sick, fall by the wayside and don’t make it to the top because they are out of shape or dehydrated. Don’t be among them. Better too fit than not fit enough. So, two things are particularly challenging about climbing Half Dome. One is the combination of distance and altitude gain — it’s a long, steep slog. The other is the elevation. The air is a bit thinner up there, so train at altitude. This means get out and hike.
The high country in Yosemite around Tuolumne Meadows is perfect hiking country. And the Stanislaus National Forest to the east of us and to the north of Yosemite has terrific hiking possibilities. For a perfect combination of training and vistas, I recommend that you drive up to Sonora Pass and hike south along the Pacific Crest Trail. This is very beautiful and very scenic and at an elevation that will get you shipshape for Half Dome. Hiking north from Sonora Pass also is excellent, though I personally think the best hike in the region is to follow the St. Mary’s Pass Trail, which takes off to the north from Highway 108 about half a mile below Sonora Pass. This delightful path traverses the west flank of Sonora Peak past some natural springs that water abundant wildflowers, even in October, when they have disappeared everywhere else.
4. Selecting gear
First and foremost is your footwear. It’s astonishing but true that some Half Dome ascensionists get to the top with strange things on their feet, such as sandals or street shoes. But why ask for trouble? After hiking 16 miles, your feet will tell you if you do not have the right shoes. I personally use Ecco hiking boots. This import from Denmark is flexible and soft — very comfortable. I wouldn’t claim they offer much support, though. If you want support, you need a stiffer shoe. Sneakers also are a good choice. My wife, Liz, often uses them to good advantage in her hiking. The main thing is, whatever shoes you choose, get out and train in them. Take long hikes to make sure your feet will be happy in them for a prolonged period.
Besides proper footwear, rugged outdoor clothing is essential. Shorts or pants that allow free movement are recommended, along with a woven, long-sleeved cotton shirt. Take along a spare sweater in case it gets cool and a poncho or waterproof jacket in case it gets wet. Don’t forget a hat to shield your head from the sun, plus bug stuff depending upon the season.
You will want a day pack to put the spare gear in. That spare gear, by the way, should include lunch and two liter bottles of water. (The park service recommends a gallon of water, but half of that seems enough to me.)
Lunch might include apples, salami, cheese, Triscuits, nuts, and cookies. I suggest you take a sharp folding knife for carving this stuff, sunscreen, lip balm and a headlamp for the early-morning start and possible late descent.

THE ASCENT
You are now ready. Let’s climb!
Let’s say you have picked a weekday in mid-September. You live in the Modesto area, so you have a choice of leaving home in the middle of the night or camping in Yosemite Valley and leaving early next morning. That’s the first hurdle: leaving early in the morning. What do I mean by “early”? I mean 3 a.m. Yes, I know it’s a dreadful hour, a good hour for sleeping. But if you are camping and get up at 3 a.m., you will never be sorry. If you get up later, you might well be. If you are making a one-day round trip from Modesto (tough, but doable), you will need to leave town at about midnight. If you are driving through the mountains at night, be alert for animals on the road. They are more likely to be out at that time rather than when the sun is high.
If you are camped in Yosemite Valley, you will need to drive to the east end to find the John Muir Trail trailhead. Follow signs indicating trailhead or just showing a hiker. There is a parking lot near the trailhead, just east of Curry Village. If you can reserve a camp in the Upper Pines Campground, you will not need to drive but can simply walk from your campsite to the bridge across the Merced and thence to the trailhead.
The trail is at first a wide swath covered in asphalt that has worn away here and there. Follow it as it climbs to the south before turning east to follow the course of the plunging Merced River. You will come to a bridge; on the far side is a drinking fountain where you can fill your bottles with fresh water and thus save carrying water to this point.
From the bridge, the trail leads up along the south side of the Merced River toward Vernal Fall. You will find a rock stairway here, the ascent of which is laborious but much shorter than following the alternate trail around. Earlier in the year, this is a very wet area.
From the top of Vernal, follow the trail across another bridge to the north side of the river. (NOTE: Stay away from the water near the top of the fall. This treacherous section has claimed many lives.) Follow the trail up the left, or north, side of Nevada Fall to the top, where the Merced meanders along before its big plunge to the rocks below.
You will shortly come to a fork in the trail. Take the left branch and follow the slowly rising path as it skirts the south and east faces of Half Dome. You will be walking through a magnificent forest, with giant pines, firs and stately stands of incense ciders. If you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you will by and by come to a natural spring on the right. It usually has water, but it is best to not count on it and to take your own. After you pass the spring, you will shortly come to the beginning of the dome’s shoulder. Follow the trail and steps as they lead up to the base of the dome itself, where you will find the cable stairway.
(NOTE: If cumulus clouds are building, stay off of the dome. In fact, stay away from any exposed areas. Hang out in the forests, where the trees will protect you from lightning. Also, if the weather is bad, or looks bad, call off the climb. Save it and yourself for another day.)
If you have brought canvas gloves, put them on and firmly grasp the cables on either side. Ascend the cable stairway slowly, steadily and alertly. You shouldn’t have a heavy pack at this point. In fact, you can leave almost everything below. You may want to take food and water if you wish to enjoy lunch on top. Or if you just want to zip up and down, you can leave these things below, plus your headlamp and anything else you don’t need above. Be careful, however, about leaving your sweater or poncho. These things are lightweight and may come in handy if it’s cooler above than you think.
After reaching the top, you have earned a moment of pride. Enjoy the magnificent view and note the absence of glacier polish on the huge top of the dome. Glaciers never passed over the crown of Half Dome, though they formed a sea around it. After enjoying the summit, it is time to begin the long descent to the valley and its sybaritic charms.

THE DESCENT
You start by going down the cables. Gloves are handy here, even more so than on the ascent. Also handy, going up and going down, are a couple of carabiners with nylon lines going to your waist. Carabiners are devices used by climbers. They are a sort of giant safety pin, but very strong. They can be clipped to the cable and will prevent you from falling far if you were to slip. When you come to one of the vertical poles, you can unclip one carabiner from the cable, pass it around the obstacle, and clip it in again, and repeat that process with the other carabiner, thus remaining always clipped in. Check with a sports shop for this gear.
When you reach the bottom of the cable stairway, all you need is caution as you retrace your route to the valley. You should arrive in midafternoon, with plenty of daylight, but if you get down later, that’s OK, too — you made it.
Congratulations! Go to Curry Village and treat yourself to pizza or an ice cream bar.