Winterplace

Winterplace has the second best tubing hill in the region. From Pennsylvania to Indiana and Tennessee to Michigan, only Perfect North has put more money and effort into its tubing facilities. After a decade of this, what began as a side diversion for little kids has become a destination sport all its own. People now come to Winterplace just to tube, with no intention of ever skiing. The Tubing Hill has become one of Winterplace’s claims to fame. The hill itself is equal to the one at Perfect North. Winterplace uses ropetows instead of a magic carpet, which is not as elegant but does get more tubers to the top faster and allows each person to make more runs per hour. There’s no separate Tubing Lodge here, but the Mountain House is right next door. Parents with kids can sit in the Mountain House and relax while watching the fun out the window.

As tubing has become more popular and equipment and lifts have become sophisticated, rates have risen. For 2009-10 you'll pay $26 for a 1-5:00 ticket, $26 for a 5-10:00 ticket, and $34 for a 1-10:00 ticket. During Christmas Week plus the Martin Luther King and Presidents Day weekends, 1-5:00 is $30 and 9 am - 10 pm is $38.

If you're coming primarily to ski but want to take a few hours off and tube, you can buy an add on pass for $12.50. But you have to buy the add on pass when you buy your ski lift ticket.

The girls in this photo are tubing in their ski boots, but that is not a good idea. Much better to bring a good pair of snow boots along and change into them for your time on the tubing hill.

Our particular recommendation is to hit the slopes at rope drop at 9 a.m., ski all day or until tired, then switch over to tubing as a way to wind up the day or the evening. This means you can come in to the Mountain House, eat, change into your snow boots, take your skiis, goggles, poles and boots out to the van, and relax on your tube. We like this approach because it takes advantage of the opposite tendencies of the two surfaces. Snow becomes hard packed and icy as the day goes on, so skiing becomes more treacherous and less enjoyable while tubing becomes faster and more enjoyable. We also find that skiing at dusk or after dark becomes treacherous, while tubing at dusk or after dark is a lot of fun. There is a lot of evidence suggesting that most ski accidents and injuries occur late in the day when reactions have dulled. But you don't need those quick reactions for tubing. We will often come in around 3 or 4 pm, shower, take an hour or so nap, eat dinner, then get dressed and go back out for an evening's tubing.

For what it's worth, our extensive scientific research has proven that tubing backwards produces the best speeds. When you sit with your feet pointing downhill, two thirds of your weight is on the back rim of the tube, which functions as sort of a braking action. However, when you sit with your feet pointing uphill, two thirds of your weight is on the front rim of the tube, which "pulls" it downhill faster. With no weight on the back rim, there's no braking action.

But this tactic is not without its risks. You have to learn to balance carefully or you'll somerset over backward. Since you can't see the dips and rises coming, you can't lean or brace in anticipation, and you can be trampolined right out of the tube.