Snow Tubing at The Mt. Hood Ski Bowl

A couple of weeks ago we took my Dad and the kids on an overnight adventure to Mt. Hood for Emma’s 8th birthday. None of us had ever spent much time at the mountain (which probably sounds crazy to Portlanders) and I was trying to figure out exactly what we could do and where we could stay. We ended up staying at The Timberline Lodge (more on that in the future), but stopped at the Mt. Hood Ski Bowl to do some snow tubing first.

None of us knew quite what to expect.

After following the signs to the tubing area, we parked and I walked into the tiny office where I purchased our passes. We needed a day snow parking pass (which was $6) and passes for everyone who would be tubing. If you were not tubing you could go and watch from a restaurant and bar on top of the hill.

The admission prices vary by height; all children between 36"- 48” are $19 and everyone else is $25. A pass is for 2 hours of tubing.

You hook your passes onto the zipper hook of your coat and then venture over to grab some inner tubes. They are all on a first come first serve basis, but while we were there they had plenty to choose from. You could grab a single inner tube, a double, or one that fits four people. You could then walk up the hill or ride what my kids called “the escalator” up. There were plenty of ‘lanes’ to choose from once you were on top of the hill, and everyone gets in a line. When the bottom of the hill is cleared out, the manager at the top counts to three and everyone flies down.

It was really, really fun.

In addition to the main sliding area there was also one spot that had a curved sliding area, and a separate hill that had two runs for the daredevils. There is no way up but to hike it up and they only allowed singles tubes up there. Anika braved it and hiked up - she had a ton of fun, but the trek up was a little too much of a climb for her so she only went down once.

There is also an indoor play area for kids with a climbing area and ball pit, and of course plenty of areas to ski as well.

The Mt. hood Ski Bowl was an amazing afternoon and the 2 hour time slot was just about perfect. This sign which is outside of the kids play area pretty much sums up exactly how I feel; I’m so happy to have these moments and opportunities with my family.

~Melissa