Snowtubing in Central PA!

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There’s nothing quite as exhilarating as racing down a steep, snow-covered hill. Some like to strap on skis; but that requires lessons, cumbersome gear, and expensive lift tickets, not to mention skill and athleticism. You can skip all that and take the more leisurely — in that you have no ability to control the action — approach to hitting the slopes: in a snowtube.

Because they are hard to steer, the safest place to use a tube is a designated tubing park where obstacles and hazards on or near the tubing area have been removed. When snowtubing, you usually have the option of riding alone in a single tube, or with a group of up to four or six people in a family-sized tube. For safety reasons, children must be at least three feet tall to go tubing at most mountain and tubing resorts; some resorts that children be at least 5 years old, regardless of their height. Additionally, children are not permitted to sit on a parent’s lap whether on a single or a multi-person tube.

We’ve rounded up great places to snowtube this winter. NOTE: As of Dec. 5, 2019, none is open for the season, nor has posted its 2019-2020 schedule, but they will soon! For slopes to open, establishments will need several days of consistently below-freezing temperatures to make snow; typically this is around mid-late December. Please call or visit the website before heading out to check for tubing times and to confirm that the slopes are open.

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Snow Tubing at Heritage Hills Resort
2700 Mount Rose Ave., York
877-782-9752
Costs: Last season’s fees were $10-$35, depending upon date and time. See website for details.
They have 10 lanes for single-tube use (no group rides) and two powered rope-lines to tow tubers back to the top again. They also offer night tubing and have fire pits for added fun after you’re done tubing.

Blue Mountain Resort
1660 Blue Mountain Drive, Palmerton
610-826-7700
Costs: 3-hour sessions prior to 5 pm., $40; twilight tubing (after 5 p.m.), $25 (not valid over holidays).
The resort has 34 lanes for snowtubing fun—including some that permit two single tubes to be linked together for a combined run. There are also three lifts to make repeat runs quicker and easier.

Camelback Mountain
107 Resort Drive, Tannersville
570-629-1664
Costs: 3-hour sessions, $30 Mon.-Thurs. and $35 Fri.-Sun. Tickets are only available day-of at the ski resort; if you arrive by 9 a.m. on a weekend day or a holiday, you’re guaranteed a session that day.
They have 42 tubing lanes and two “magic carpet lifts” to get you back to the top of the tubing mountain.

Iron Valley Tubing
201 Iron Valley Drive, Lebanon
717- 279-7409
Costs: $35, but they also have multiple discounts depending upon the number of people in your group.
They have 15 tubing lanes, and kids must be at least 40” tall to ride the big hill; there are two “kiddie hills” available where young children can ride on their own tubes while “daisy linked” with their parents’ tubes.

Tubing at Boulder Ridge
Liberty Mountain Resort
78 Country Club Trail, Fairfield
717-642-8282
Costs: $9-$34, depending upon age and day of the week. Tickets must be purchased at Boulder Ridge; they aren’t available at the main resort ticket windows.
They have 15 tubing lanes on the main run and a “moving carpet” to take riders and their tubes back to the top. Children must be at least 5 years old to ride the main runs; however, there’s a Pebble Ridge Kiddy Tubing run especially for children ages 2-4.

Roundtop Mountain Resort
925 Roundtop Road, Lewisberry
717 432-9631
Costs: $10-$35, depending upon age and day of the week.
They have 10 large tubing runs—and a magic carpet lift to whisk riders back up to the top. Children need to be 5 years old or older to ride on these lanes. There is a kiddie hill for those 4 and under, which does not have a tow rope or lift (that job is left to you, parents!).