What to wear on a Yellowstone winter tour
The coach is warm. The boardwalk at Old Faithful in the morning is not. A winter day in Yellowstone means climbing in and out of a heated vehicle again and again, so the goal is layers you can open and close fast. This guide goes from base layer to boots, then covers what each tour hands out.
How cold a winter day gets
Daytime highs in the park often reach only 0–20 °F (−18 to −7 °C), and mornings well below 0 °F (−18 °C) are common. Wind across the open geyser basins makes it feel colder again.
Snow reflects the sun, so a clear day brings hard glare even when the air is bitter. Much of the park also sits high enough for the sun to burn.
The vehicles themselves are warm. Horizon Travel Team calls its snowcoach heated. BrushBuck's coaches and Suburbans are enclosed and heated too.
The switch is the hard part. A snowcoach day stops at thermal basins and wherever animals show up, and each stop means going from a warm cabin into deep cold and back.
You want clothing you can unzip inside and close up in seconds at the door. What a snowcoach is, and how it rides describes the cabin itself.
Layers from the skin out
- Base layer, a merino or synthetic thermal top and leggings, never cotton, which stays damp once you sweat
- Mid layer, a fleece or light down sweater you can pull off in the coach
- Insulated jacket with a hood, windproof if possible and long enough to cover your hips
- Snow pants or insulated trousers over the leggings, for boardwalk stops and any snowshoe walk
Jeans on their own go cold and stiff within minutes outside. Two thinner layers under a good jacket beat one heavy sweater, because you can adjust them.
Open your jacket and take your hat off as you climb back into the coach, so you do not sweat. Damp layers chill you fast at the next stop.
Boots and grip on icy boardwalks
Feet get cold first. BrushBuck says winter boots with good tread are a must and sends a packing list before the trip.
Choose insulated, waterproof boots with a little room for thick wool socks, since tight boots cut circulation and feel colder. Pack a dry spare pair of socks in your daypack.
Around Old Faithful and the other basins, the boardwalks ice over where geyser steam drifts and freezes. Slip-on traction cleats with small spikes or coils make them far safer.
Some tours provide gear, so check yours. Good Trip Adventures lends snowshoes or crampons when needed, and Horizon includes snowshoeing when conditions allow.
No mention of cleats in your listing? Bring a pair from home or buy them in a gateway town before the tour. Old Faithful in winter by snowcoach covers the boardwalk loop you will walk.
Keeping hands and face warm
Mittens keep hands warmer than gloves, because your fingers share heat inside them. Photographers do well with a thin liner glove under the mitten.
That way the mitten slips off for a picture and back on before your fingers go numb. Phone screens work with many liner gloves, which saves bare skin.
Above the neck, wear a hat that covers your ears and a neck gaiter or balaclava you can pull over your nose. Sunglasses or goggles cut the glare off the snow, and sunscreen with lip balm stops a clear day from burning your face.
What else goes in the daypack
- Hand and toe warmers, which Horizon includes with its trip
- A thermos of something hot for the long gaps between meals
- Spare phone and camera batteries, kept in an inside pocket, because cold drains them fast
- Binoculars, unless you are with BrushBuck or Yellowstone Hiking Guides, who provide them
- A lens cloth, since glasses and lenses fog when you climb back into the warm coach
Food differs by tour. Yellowstone Hiking Guides, from ~$292, brings hot drinks with a morning snack and a brown-bag picnic lunch on its road day to Lamar Valley, so you only need water and a spare layer.
The wildlife guide explains why long stops at the spotting scope make warm hands matter.
Three days with hand warmers packed
Hand warmers and snacks come with Horizon Travel Team's trip from Salt Lake City, from ~$2,249. Snowshoeing is added when conditions allow, and a hot spring soak waits on the way home. It is new on GetYourGuide with no reviews yet, and it needs four guests to run.
Packing tour by tour
Horizon's last day can stop at Lava Hot Springs in Idaho, with pools of about 102–112 °F (39–44 °C). Pack a swimsuit and a quick-dry towel for the Salt Lake City trip.
BrushBuck's four days from Jackson, from ~$2,089, mean three nights in simple 2-3 star hotels, so one set of winter layers plus a change for the evenings is plenty. Nobody dresses up.
Bring your own blankets for the Double H Bar sleigh ride on the National Elk Refuge, from ~$43, which provides none. You sit still in the open for 45–60 minutes, and that feels colder than walking.
Wear your warmest layer and the snow pants. Food and drinks are not allowed aboard, and hotel pickup is not included.
Snowshoes or crampons come on loan with the Good Trip Adventures private day, from ~$973, which has room for an optional hike or snowshoe at the Calcite Springs overlook. Wear boots that fit a binding.
Its catch is the price, charged per person for a private group, which adds up fast for a couple next to a shared day.
What to leave at the hotel
Smooth-soled fashion boots make a snowcoach day harder, and so do cotton hoodies and a big bag. Space aboard is limited, and a small daypack you can hold on your lap is easier at every stop.
A heavy tripod rarely pays off in a coach, since most pictures are taken from the window or during short walks.
Leave room in the budget for traction cleats and warmers if your tour does not supply them. What a Yellowstone snowcoach tour costs lists what each price includes, and when the snowcoach season runs shows which weeks tend to be the coldest.