Snow Tubing in the Summer

Keystone Resort has just done something unprecedented: Opened a snow tubing hill in the middle of summer! And the good news is: Your Breckenridge vacation rental is just a short drive over the beautiful Swan Mountain Road from Keystone.

For three years, Matt Hoover, the night operations manager at the tubing hill, called Adventure Point, told Keystone managers they should let him build a couple lanes for snow tubing in the summer. This year, they finally listened, because like every company these days, they’re looking to increase profits through innovation.

Matt spent two weeks hauling snow from the nearby Spring Dipper run to the top of Dercum Mountain (which is Keystone Resort’s first peak). He piled the snow 25-30 feet high, then left for a quick trip to Vegas. The funny thing is, he spotted his heap of snow from the plane, as it took off west from Denver International Airport!

When he returned, he spent four days working nearly day and night to flatten the snow with a snowcat and create two lanes for summer tubing. He literally worked around the clock, only sleeping for a few hours in the yurt at the top of Adventure Point.

But it was all worth it. Now everyone can enjoy winter sports in the middle of summer when the air is warm.

Though the snow gets slushy in the day, it’s still bright white because Matt grooms it consistently, and the lanes still deliver a fast ride. In fact when Matt first made the lanes, they were so fast that his test run, which involved a 75-pound hay bale tied to a tube, flew past the long, flat run out, into the fence. Of course, he redesigned the lanes so that thrill seekers stop well before the run out ends.

Tubing costs $25 for an hour, and most people get 5 to 8 runs in during that time. The ticket includes a ride in the gondola to the top of the hill, as well as the conveyor belt ride, housed in a Plexiglas tunnel, to take guests and their tubes back to the top of the lanes.

People can ride down alone, or in groups of two, three and four as they hold onto each other’s tubes and fly down together — laughing the entire time, and sometimes even screaming.

Keystone hopes to keep the tubing hill open for the Fourth of July weekend and beyond, but everything is weather dependent. Even though the lanes sit at about 12,000 feet, the sun is intense up there.

If you go, make sure you wear closed-toe shoes — your toes will get very chilly if you wear sandals. Dress in layers and make sure you wear sunglasses and plenty of sunscreen, because the reflective sun is very powerful.

The tubing hill opened in conjunction with Keystone’s mountain [http:keystone.snow.com/Home/Resort-Activities.aspx] bike park, which offers some of the nation’s best downhill trails, complete with rock gardens, drops and bridges. Mountain biking remains open through Sept. 7.