40 Years Of Solitude As Yellowstone’s Winter Caretaker

Steven Fuller is a winterkeeper in Yellowstone.

That's a winter caretaker whose job, among other things, is to remove the snow from the roofs of summer tourist cabins and lodges so they don’t collapse.

Yellowstone gets a lot of heavy snow. Someone needs to hang around the park in the winter and make sure too much snow doesn't pile up.

These Snow Keepers have wintered in Yellowstone since the 1880s.

Back in 1973, Yellowstone put out an application for the job. Mr. Fuller was the only one to apply for it. He thinks that's probably why he got it.

When I arrived at Canyon in 1973 my only neighbors were four people at Lake Yellowstone 18 miles south. Town [West Yellowstone] was 40 miles away and accessible only by unreliable primitive snowmobile. I had about 100 buildings to winter keep. Most of these have been replaced with lodges engineered to bear the weight of winter snows without the roofs having to be cleared.

The video below was produced by Sunday On CBS.

There is plenty of work for him, as a caretaker, in the summer.

He has lived in the house far into the Yellowstone wilderness that the park has provided him. He even raised a family there.

He has never had a television. He does have a vast library of books, and cats.

His kids are grown his wife is gone and Mr. Fuller gets older.

He enjoys the isolation.

You will be snowed in by mid-November. Thereafter you are not to leave Canyon. We do not want to see you again until you are plowed out in mid-April next year.

Others help Mr. Fuller with his job. But nobody has stayed as long as he has.

Most historic winter keepers have been short-timers, a season or two was enough for them. Most were driven by economic necessity, the job didn’t pay much or the seclusion got to them, but it was a job.

A few stayed longer. (Mountain Times - Full Interview).

To be alone in the bushes with a camera is one of several facets of solitude that I cherish.