Snow Play Areas on Donner Summit

The storms have passed through Northern California, the kids are out of school this week and it's sunny...so where can you take them for a few hours of snow play that won't break the budget?

Head up Interstate-80 from the Sacramento area and you'll see the first patches of snow at about 3000 feet elevation, or just past Colfax. Now these first sightings of snow will bring squeals from the young ones, so be prepared to explain that it's only about 20 minutes further to the really "good stuff". You will find snow play hills at the Yuba Gap and Cisco Grove exits. At these sites you will need to have your own sleds, inflatables, or discs with you. Your gang will also have to trek UP the hill after each slide DOWN. If you have kids under 10 years of age this will make for a labor-intensive and short day for you. The kids will tire and get cold quickly.

However...at the Kingvale exit, there is a spot called Kingvale Tubing and Sledding Center and these folks have developed a great spot to entertain your family. First of all, you can see people sliding down the hill from Interstate-80, so the family will immediately be excited. The offramp takes you past a service station directly to the Snow Play area parking lot. Parking is cleared and attendants guide you to an available spot. It's a short walk to the bottom of the hill, where you purchase a 2-hour ticket and join the line to tube down the manicured hill.

As you get to the front of the line, you grab a hold of a long tether attached to an inner-tube. The inflatable tube is surrounded by a nylon seating-sliding-grabbing cover and the friendly lift operator guides you to sit on the tube and attaches the tether to the rope that will drag you up the hill in comfort. At the top there are more attendants to make sure you get started down your tubing "run", and this is where the real fun begins!

I took my two teenagers, plus one cousin (her first time), and a neighbor's son, to Kingvale today (12/29/2008). I saw hundreds of adults and kids slide down the well-groomed hill and the result was the same every time...beaming faces! At the bottom of each run there is a series of rubber pads that act a "brakes" , and a banked curve which slows down the rider further. Riders get off their tubes and immediately join the line to ride to the top again.

Maybe if it gets really busy at Kingvale, they may start checking lift-tickets and ask people to stop after two hours, but in three trips there on busy days I've never seen it.

There are hot chocolate and snacks on site, or pack a picnic lunch. Just don't expect the kids to want to quit for lunch, they'll slide down the hill until they're worn-out and hungry. That's when you feed them and head down-hill, and they'll fall asleep in the back seat as soon as they've re-lived the excitement of each run...talking about "getting air" and begging to come back again.

Wear warm clothing, waterproof pants and boots if you have them. But don't put off the trip if you don't have "snow gear"...just bring a change of dry socks for the ride home. Plenty of people ride down the hill in blue jeans. A knit hat is always a good idea, especially if the wind kicks up and clouds blow in.

Tickets are $20. for adults, and $18. for kids 12-years and under. The four teenagers I took today were ready to go home after a little over two hours on the slope. There is also a seperate small hill for sliding down on discs.