Families looking to put a little snow into their holidays last month weren’t disappointed when they arrived at Big Bear Snow Play and Alpine Slide.

    The two nicest inner tubing areas in Southern California had snow, all right. Some 20-30 feet of it in places! Literally snow banks resembling two to three story buildings greeted guests who pulled into each area’s parking lot.

    Piling up tremendous amounts of snow is nothing new at Big Bear Snow Play, which was once a ski area and is now home to the longest tubing runs in the Southland. Same at Alpine Slide. What is unusual is to have this much snow so early in the season. Usually it’s not till February or March that the Lenko fan guns each area fires to make mountains of beautiful snow have produced enough product to last till Easter and even beyond. But the same cold, dry conditions in December that benefitted the ski areas (story page 4) worked to the advantage of the tubing areas too.

    As a result, both areas are fully open and inner tubing conditions could not be better. In addition to downhill runs, Big Bear Snow Play and Alpine Slide also build “Snakes” that are now open, a series of high-banked berms that send tubers on twisting, twirling rides. It features two big turns at the top that whip tubers back and forth on a boardercross-style descent.

    In addition to the Snake, Big Bear Snow Play also builds little run-up ramps on some runs before the long descent, whoop-di-doos that are kind of like those carnival slides on burlap bags...except inner tubes on snow are a whole lot faster than burlap.

    Rubber inner tubes are no longer just black at Big Bear Snow Play either. Brightly-decorated covers now adorn many of the area’s downhill devices. Tube covers are not just aesthetically-pleasing, they serve practical purposes too. “They keep snow off your butt,” noted Audra Penchansky of Culver City after her thrilling, pinwheeling downhill descent.

    Covers do more than just make for a dry derriere. They speed up a ride that’s already fast. Stretching across each tube, the cover fills the hole at the bottom and creates more surface area, which means more gliding.

    “Yeah, they go faster (than the regular inner tubes),” Audra concurred. “They go a lot faster!” The covered tubes even make their own special sound as they slide, kind of a whir like propellers make. She was celebrating the holiday season with a good frolic in a winter wonderland at Big Bear Snow Play with husband Ollie and their children, Walker, age 6, and Dustin, 3. “We’ve been on the bunny run some with the little guy, but we’ve also taken him down the big runs too. They love it, they’re little daredevils.”

    Big Bear Snow Play also has two Magic Carpet uphill lifts available (one enclosed in Plexiglass for guest comfort), handy on the busy days. Just step on the moving conveyor belt with your tube and step off. No walking uphill through the deep snowpack means kids and their parents can get in all the runs they can handle.

    Which Simi Valley resident Ryan Bradley appreciated. He and wife Michelle had children Brooke, 5 and Kenna, 4 in tow, a task made easier by the lift. “It’s very convenient, especially when you have little kids,” he said of the Magic Carpet. “Walking up gets frustrating when you have little kids. They don’t make it very well.”

    With a vertical rise of a few hundred feet, old Rebel Ridge was never big enough to compete as a ski area, but it’s oversized for a tubing hill, allowing guests to really get moving. No wonder Big Bear Snow Play has been a generational favorite with families, and now kids who got their first taste of snow on its long runs are bringing their kids to play in the white stuff.

    While the tubing hill has always had the terrain, facilities were nonexistent till recent years when a Magic Carpet uphill lift that’s now covered for guest comfort was installed, followed by a heated base lodge with snack bar and video games.

    Alpine Slide meanwhile has been offering a worldclass tubing experience for years, with Plexiglass-encased Magic Carpet, heated base lodge with family-priced snack bar, and weekend barbecue. It too builds a Snake and it is also home to the region’s only inner tubing after dark.

    Now’s the time to experience night tubing, since Alpine Slide has its regular evening sessions from 5-9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, plus every night during the holidays through January 7 plus Sunday, Jan. 15 for Martin Luther King holiday. Bundle up and get ready for the ride of your life... eerie, spooky and definitely exhilarating!

    All-day snow play passes at Big Bear Snow Play and Alpine Slide, which include tube rental and use of the Magic Carpet lifts, are just $25 and guests are free to come and go as they want. Both areas are open daily from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Night sessions are just $15 for four hours of fun.

    Alpine Slide bobsleds take riders for Olympic-size thrills as they navigate two cement tracks aboard sleds with ball-bearing wheels they control. Experience what athletes at the 2010 Vancouver Games felt as you lean into each banked turn and go into a tuck on the straightaways. Alpine Slide also offers Putt `N Around go-karts and miniature golf course.

    Big Bear Snow Play is on Big Bear Blvd. three miles east of Alpine Slide; (909) 585-0075. Alpine Slide is 1/4 mile west of the Village; (909) 866-4626.