• 2 oz / 7.5 oz Wyoming Whiskey Small Batch Bourbon
• 1 tsp / 3.75 tsp Honey
• 1 Tbsp / 3.75 Tbsp Alpine Apple Cider Mix
• 4 oz / 15 oz Hot Water

Ostrander Carajillo

 A well-balanced cocktail that combines the bitterness of coffee, the sweet tanginess of Licor 43, and the caramel-forward Wyoming Whiskey to give you the shot of courage you need.

Originating in Spain and popularized in Mexico City, the Carajillo cocktail is no stranger to high altitudes. The Spanish root coraje, translates to courage, and the combination of espresso and whiskey should make its utility on the ski slopes self-explanatory. Steep terrain, cold weather?

Have a sip of liquid coraje...

Best enjoyed after a long day of breaking trail.

Single Serving/Firelight 750 To-Go

• 1 oz / 5.5 oz Wyoming Whiskey Small Batch Bourbon
• 1 oz / 5.5 oz Licor 43
• 0.5 oz / 2.75 oz Simple Syrup
• 2 oz / 11.25 oz Espresso

Combine bourbon, Licor 43, simple syrup & top with piping hot espresso. Fills an entire Firelight Flask.

The Adventure

When I moved to San Francisco from Montana five years ago, I left behind a lot of the backcountry escapes I’d fallen in love with growing up. Tahoe is great, but my experiences left me wanting to get back into the backcountry and away from the crowds. I missed the rugged wilderness surrounding Bozeman where I could immerse myself in nature without the hassle of other people.

So this new year I decided to plan my first backcountry ski trip in the Sierras. I came across a remote stone hut just outside Yosemite Valley that has been a bucket list adventure for backcountry skiers for nearly 80 years. Named The Ostrander Hut, it's only accessible to those willing to sweat the day-long sufferfest to the top. Beyond that, it only allows 1500 guests per year (compared to Yosemite Valley’s 5 million annual visitors) and this late in the game, I was unlikely to get a reservation. 

I somehow managed to snag a few mid-week reservations in March and I invited a pair of experienced backcountry skiers to join me. My next task was to find the perfect whiskey to commemorate this adventure. We reached out to our friends at Wyoming Whiskey and without hesitation, they recommended their 100 Proof Outryder Straight American Whiskey and their signature Small Batch Bourbon - plus a couple cocktail recipes to go with them.

Day 1 - Tuesday, Marth 10th

In the days leading up to departure, the Sierras had one of the worst Februaries on record for snow. This meant that coverage was poor and we needed to hike some sections of the route - thus we needed to pack twice as much gear as we intended.

Undeterred, we set out for Yosemite. On the 5-hour drive we made one pitstop for a burrito and listened to the radio as the first cases of coronavirus were hitting Santa Clara county. We arrived safely at our cabin with just enough time to sip some whiskey, lay a fresh layer of wax down on our skis/snowboards, and look over our gear one last time. Lights out at 12:30am, alarm set for 5:15am to make our way to the hut. 

Day 2 - Wednesday, March 11th

We hit the trailhead in our boots at 7:25am for sunrise with our skis strapped to our 65lb packs. We spent much of the first few miles optimistically theorizing about when we might be able to strap on our skis. On a normal snow season, the trail is buried under a dozen feet of snow allowing for a five-hour glide up to the hut.

We covered the first three miles in less than an hour but our pace slowed dramatically after mile 3. The trail manically alternated between dirt and snow and it felt like we were on Everest’s Khumbu Icefall - probing with our ski poles with every step to test the snow’s stability. Give us dirt, or give us snow, but goddamnit, don’t give us both! After a much-needed break along Bridalveil Creek around mile 6 and we finally put on our skins and slogged the final 1500’ ft up and over the mountain. All in all, the trip up was about 13 miles, 2375 ft of elevation gain, and took 8.5 hrs.

There were only a handful of people up at the hut when we arrived. Most had canceled due to lack of snow, coronavirus, or a combination of the two. After we hung our sweat-drenched clothes up to dry, the long-awaited celebratory cocktail hour began. Wyoming Toddies in hand, the three of us sat out on the front deck of the hut and watched the sunset over our tracks.

Day 3 - Wednesday, March 12th

I’d love to say that we had the best night's sleep of our lives, but the constant rushes of cold air swooping in from patrons using the outhouse door left our eyes feeling heavy in the morning. After some coffee and some awkward hut yoga, we strapped on our skis in search of some snow. 

Most of the terrain within a couple of miles of the hut was crusted over so we set out on a five mile skin towards Buena Vista Lake. Above it, sits a North facing ridgeline consisting of some nice wide chutes that empty out into a large, trackless bowl. We reached the top and finally captured our first clear view of our surroundings: Instead of looking up at the face of El Capitan from the Valley below and feeling like ants, we were looking down on it as if we were giants. This is why we made the trip - high fives and little sniffles all-around. One-by-one we flipped our skis into descend mode, took a few quick turns, picked up speed, and whooped and hollered the whole way down. We lapped it over and over again for hours until our legs finally gave out.

Returning to the hut, it was too early to sleep so we whipped up a batch of Wyoming Whiskey’s Carajillo cocktail for a long evening of Liar’s dice and jenga.

Day 4 - Thursday, March 13th

Armed with some better information about the best route back to the trailhead, we left the cabin just after sunrise. The snow held for a few miles, and we hiked out the remaining miles with far less drudgery than our trip in. We loaded up the car and when we got back into cell service and immediately our phones started blowing up… The NBA Season was postponed indefinitely and Tom Hanks has coronavirus? Uh, what?

When we left on Tuesday, the spread of Covid-19 was in its early stages. Upon exiting the backcountry, our world rapidly changed. The Ostrander Hut shut down days later and it will remain closed for the rest of the season. Looking back, this would have been an easy trip to cancel based on the lack of snow and the added hassle of carrying an extra 30lbs of gear to compensate. Now, as I sit confined to my apartment, I am overwhelmed with gratitude,  realizing that trips like this are always worth pursuing, even if the conditions aren’t perfect. My first backcountry trip to the Sierras turned out to be once-in-a-lifetime for a completely different reason than I anticipated. I guess you just never know what world you might wake up in one day to the next.