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If you are looking for a fun winter activity in Utah that is requires less skill than skiing or snowboarding, consider going snow tubing in Park City. Opened in 2019, Woodward Park City is the newest place to go snow tubing in Park City, Utah. For those that have visited Utah previously, Woodward Park City took over the old Gorgoza Park Tubing Hill. In addition to snow tubing, Woodward Park City also has a terrain park and indoor activities.

Tubing in Park City

As the newest winter destination in Utah, Woodward Park City is more of an adventure destination than a classic Utah ski resort. Opened in the 2019-2020 season and closed early due to the COVID-19 pandemic (along with the rest of the resorts in Utah), this is a location was the first that I checked out for the 2020-2021 season. Woodward Park City is less than 30 minutes from Salt Lake City off of I-80. I’m not skilled enough on my skis for the terrain parks so we went tubing instead. Woodward Park City is home to the longest tubing lanes in Utah.

I’m not sure if it was the timing of when we went (the day after Thanksgiving) or just the nature of the setup, but each run took approximately 20 minutes from the bottom between the magic carpets and the lines. And since you aren’t really using much effort to ride down in a tube (as opposed to skiing or snowboarding where it’s more of a workout), you can get pretty cold. Despite it being cold, we had a blast. Each tubing reservation is for two hours which was plenty of time.

What to wear for Snow Tubing

While the tubing runs are fun, they are over pretty quickly. This means that a lot of your time is spent either waiting in line or riding the magic carpets up to the run. This requires a lot less effort than hiking in the winter or skiing/snowboarding at one of the Utah ski resorts, meaning that you should be prepared to feel colder than you would doing those activities. It was actually a similar concept to how to dress for viewing the Northern Lights in Sweden. Here is a review of some of the important items:

Headwear

Wearing a hat is incredibly important, although a helmet for tubing is likely overkill. You could use either a beanie or a trapper style hat. In addition, I also brought along a wool liner for under the hat as well as a wool neck buff. I didn’t end up using either of these two things. However both were very small and it was nice to have them in case it ended up a little colder.

COVID-19 Note: Masks are required for Woodward Park City tubing. You could use a neck buff or a regular mask.

Upper Body

I wore a wool baselayer crew top for our afternoon of tubing in Park City. I don’t know what took me so long to get on the wool bandwagon (probably the price), but I’m on board now. Wool is the sh*t. I then wore two other layers of down jackets (here and here) on top of my wool baselayer in addition to my shell jacket. You could maybe skip a down layer and opt for a heavy outercoat instead of the shell and down jacket.

Hands

Since I love taking pictures, my hands are usually the first thing to get cold when I am outside. I bought these super warm Black Diamond mittens last year and they are incredible. I also brought along glove liners for when I would be messing around with my phone so my hands didn’t have to come all of the way out and get exposed to the cold.

Lower Body

I wore a wool baselayer legging for snow tubing and a pair of ski pants on top of the leggings. I saw some people in sweat pants and they looked pretty cold.

Feet

One of the most important considerations of what to wear for snow tubing has to do with footwear. When skiing and snowboarding, this is taken care of with your ski/snowboarding boots. So what do you do for tubing? For boots I love these Sorel boots. Although they are huge, they are still cute and WARM. If you don’t end up with the warmest boots, consider getting a felt lining for your boots to add an extra layer between the snow and your feet.

In addition to boots, the other major consideration are your socks. Wool socks are everything. I prefer to double up with both a thick pair and a thin pair. Your feet are standing on the snow/ice and not moving much. Therefore, your feet are the most likely thing to get cold. Be careful not to skimp out here. Don’t overdo the socks and try to do more than two layers and make sure you try on your boots ahead of time and know that they don’t cut off your circulation as you add a second pair of socks.

Woodward Park City Tubing

Overall, we had a great first time snow tubing at Woodward Park City and it was a great fun activity not far from Salt Lake City. We both agreed we would like to go back again maybe on a weekday that wasn’t the day after Thanksgiving so we could get up and down the runs faster. Have you ever been snow tubing in Park City? What did you think?

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• 21 Places to Visit in Utah that aren’t National Parks
• Best Scenic Drives in Utah
• Best Time of Year to Visit Utah
• The Best Place to Ski in Utah
• How to Wash a Ski Jacket

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