Park catering to winter visitors

Choice areas of Yellowstone National Park are being groomed for cross-country skiers.

Since 2006, park concessionaire Xanterra has been managing 33 trails, many of them groomed for day use by classic and skate skiers.

The most economical park skiing is on the north side, where visitors can use their own vehicles to access trails off the highway between Gardiner and Cooke City. This is the only highway plowed through Yellowstone during winter. Two people can stay at a Gardiner motel for $50 a night.

Xanterra operates two overnight-lodges in the park with ski shops and rentals during winter. You can drive in to Mammoth Springs Hotel at the north end or book a snow coach or guided snowmobile tour into the more remote Snow Lodge at Old Faithful.

Both lodges featured ski and snowshoe rentals and nifty groomed trail systems in close proximity to wildlife.

The Upper Terrace Loop, for example, leads around a fascinating group of thermal features just a short walk from the Mammoth Springs Hotel.

Lone Star Geyser is an easy day trip on your choice of groomed or ungroomed routes from Old Faithful, which is surrounded by ski trails. Snow-coach shuttles also can be booked to take visitors miles away from Old Faithful so they can ski or snowshoe back.

For a luxurious backcountry experience around the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, consider booking with Yellowstone Expeditions, which will tailor its trips to skier ability, feed you like a king and put you up in cozy yurts miles from the nearest road.