The Winter Olympics concluded just last month, drawing the world’s attention to the beauty of snow-capped peaks and the athletes who move across them with astonishing grace. But nearly a century ago, there was a moment when those Olympic dreams almost belonged to Yosemite National Park.
In the late 1920s, Yosemite was beginning to reimagine its wild expanse as a winter destination. At the center of that vision was Donald Tresidder, president of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company. After traveling to Switzerland with his wife to attend the 1928 Winter Olympics, Tresidder saw a glimpse of home in the ethereal vistas of St. Moritz, and an idea was born.
Dr. Don Tressider at Ahwahnee Hotel cornerstone laying, 1926
Courtesy of the Yosemite National Park Digital Archives.
Tresidder’s vision of Yosemite as the “Switzerland of the West” was ambitious, but not entirely farfetched. Yosemite already possessed many of the qualities that Olympic organizers sought: dramatic alpine scenery, growing infrastructure, and a grand new hotel. The Ahwahnee had opened its doors in 1927, bringing a heretofore unheard-of level of comfort and prestige to traveling in the High Sierra.
When the search began for a host city for the 1932 Olympic Games, the first ever to be held in the United States, Yosemite entered the conversation. Competing for the top spot against Lake Tahoe and Lake Placid, the park’s supporters promoted its natural beauty, its newly constructed ice rink, and its growing reputation as a winter playground. During this period, Ansel Adams was already closely connected with the Yosemite Park and Curry Company, and with Tresidder, who frequently commissioned him to photograph life in the Valley. As enthusiasm for the Olympic bid grew, Ansel photographed the park’s myriad winter activities—skiing, ice skating, and sledding—to help demonstrate Yosemite’s potential as a winter wonderland.
Curling at skating rink
by Ralph H. Anderson,1939.
Courtesy of the Yosemite National Park Digital Archives.
Competitors in Annual Figure Skating Championships
by Ralph H. Anderson, 1935
Courtesy of the Yosemite National Park Digital Archives.
The images he made, alongside other commercial photographers during these years, captured a side of Yosemite that many visitors had never seen before. Instead of towering granite cliffs and summer waterfalls, Ansel turned his attention to skiers carving tracks through fresh powder and skaters gliding across frozen ice beneath the winter sky. These photographs helped shape a new public image of Yosemite: not only as an inaccessible cathedral in the wilderness, but as a place to be enjoyed by travelers with all appetites for adventure.
In the end, however, Yosemite’s Olympic ambitions fell just short. Organizers ultimately selected Lake Placid, New York, which offered more established winter sports venues and greater experience hosting competitive events. California, many felt, was still new to organized winter sport on the international stage. Yet the dream left its mark.
Skaters and Half Dome, from Four Seasons in Yosemite National Park.
Original photograph by Ansel Adams.
© The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.
The enthusiasm surrounding the Olympic bid helped accelerate Yosemite’s development as a winter destination. By 1929, Camp Curry boasted the best ice rink in California, and winter sports in the Valley continued to grow in popularity. In fact, the West Coast speed skating tryouts for the 1932 Olympic Games were held right there at Camp Curry.
For Adams, the experience became another chapter in his lifelong relationship with Yosemite. The same landscape that inspired his most famous photographs also served as the stage for winter recreation, ambition, and a brief Olympic dream.
Upski going uphill at Badger Pass.
by Ralph H. Anderson,1940.
Courtesy of the Yosemite National Park Digital Archives.
Today it is easy to imagine how extraordinary those games might have been—athletes racing beneath granite walls, skaters gliding in the shadow of Half Dome. Yosemite never became an Olympic host, but for a moment in the late 1920s, the idea felt entirely possible.
And thanks to the photographs made during those years, we can still glimpse the Valley as it might have appeared on the world stage: bright with snow, alive with motion, and filled with possibility.
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Last Updated on March 26, 2026
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Aspens, Northern New Mexico (V) Original Gelatin Silver Photograph by Ansel Adams
Half Dome, Merced River, Winter Original Gelatin Silver Photograph by Ansel Adams
