Family Fun on the Slopes and Beyond
Recapture the childlike magic of the season with your own kids in #AlmostHeaven.
Winter has a way of capturing some of our best childhood memories: sledding, ice skating, snowball fights, building snowmen and sipping hot chocolate in front of a crackling fire.
In the Mountain State, you will find plenty of opportunities for winter fun for the whole family. Let these 4 ideas guide the way:
1. Skiing and Snowboarding
Wearing a face-covering is standard fare on these chilly mountains, making hitting the slopes a safe activity.
Nearly every ski resort in West Virginia offers some sort of lesson to help first-timers gain their bearings on the slopes. Snowshoe Mountain’s program teaches children as young as 4 the techniques and skills to get on their feet and zipping down the hill. Once your little one is a bit more comfortable on the slopes after their lesson, you can enjoy days of family fun together!
2. Snow Tubing
The Mountain State boasts some of the best tubing and sledding runs in the mid-Atlantic. Canaan Valley Resort State Park’s 1,200-foot-long tubing run is sure to provide hours of snowy entertainment, while Winterplace Ski Resort’s tubing area– with 16 lanes and 2 super carpet lifts–is hard to beat. Additionally, the Coca Cola Tube Park at Snowshoe Mountain provides a Galactic Tubing experience, with a LED light show and more!
Face-coverings will keep your family safe and warm as they fly down a powdery hill!
3. Nature Walks
Take a winter walk in West Virginia Parks and Public Lands to enjoy nature’s finest social distancing opportunities. Your family is sure to get some fresh air and work out all of that cooped-up winter energy on the trail. Enjoy the beautiful overlooks at Cooper’s Rock State Forest or take in river views at Grandview State Park.
Don’t want to hit the road just yet? Spend some time exploring your local park or even your own backyard! The kids will have fun hunting for animal tracks and identifying the different types of trees and you will feel refreshed.
4. Sledding
Enjoy the feeling of wind in your hair and give your kids a taste of adrenaline atop a sled! Blackwater Falls State Park’s new-and-improved sled run is more than a quarter-mile long, making it the longest on the East Coast. Better yet, on the sled run, you get to enjoy all of the fun of sledding without any of the hard work of coming back up! As the Magic Carpet conveyor belt hauls you to the tippy-top of the hill, your children’s faces will light up with joy.
As with many of our favorite winter activities, keeping your distance and covering up is natural on the sled run.
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Travelers are encouraged to check the status of individual businesses and to review all Travel Responsibly guidelines before taking a trip.
This post was last updated on October 29, 2021