4 Splurges and 4 Steals for Your Family’s Winter Fun

Sledding has come a long way from the days when all you needed was a flattened cardboard box and a steep hill. And while many tubing enthusiasts who will pay big bucks for a few hours of tubing, there are still plenty of places where you can kick it old school. 

• Splurge: With eight beautifully groomed tracks down a 60-foot vertical slope, the Summit at Snoqualmie’s Tubing Center is a primo spot to bomb down a powder chute and catch a ride back to the top. Tubes are provided (you can’t bring your own). The center is open from Friday through Sunday and on holidays starting in early December (depending on snowfall). Tickets give you admission for a set two-hour session, with five sessions daily beginning with a discounted session from 9 to 11 a.m. Purchase online in advance to guarantee your spot. Cost: adults, $25; ages 6–12, $23; ages 3–5, sharing the tube with an adult, $5; onlooker, $5 

• Steal: You only have to pay an entrance fee to Mount Rainier National Park ($25 per vehicle or $50 for an annual pass). Then, you can sled, slide and tube to your heart’s content at the Para-dise snow play area near the Jackson Visitor Center, a large, ungroomed sledding hill supervised by park rangers. Bring your own flexible sleds, inner tubes, saucers or cardboard boxes, but not wooden tobog-gans or sleds with metal runners. Depending on snow conditions, the play area is open for sledding weekends and daily during school breaks from December or January to March, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Pop into the Jackson Visitor Center whenever you need a bathroom break, snack or break from the cold.