The calendar may say it's spring, but up on the mountains it's still snow time. For spring break, you might want to saddle up the car and head uphill. Forget about skis, boots, poles and expensive ski passes. Just dust off the old inner tubes and get ready to slide.
Snow tubing is an affordable sport for people of all ages.
The tubing season has been extended, thanks to winter storms dumping enormous amounts of snow on the mountains this year. Just be sure to tube safely. Tubing recklessly can be extremely dangerous, particularly in unsupervised areas, said Paul Schimelfenig, a ski-patrol supervisor at the Stevens Pass ski area, which runs Tube City. You're liable to run into a tree, fly off a cliff, hit a rock, or grab some air. Schimelfenig has seen cases where people have suffered head, neck and back injuries when tubing outside the ski area.