David Theo & Ruby Snoqualmie Summit Snow Fun

David on the left, Ruby in the Red Tube
with Theo on the right

At my old home zone location of Western Washington there are these things called mountains.

Mountains any direction one looks.

To the west the Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula.

To the east and south the Cascade Mountains.

At my old home location in the Skagit Valley I could drive a few miles to the east and be in a cross country ski zone, or a few miles to the west and be on a saltwater beach.

My Favorite Nephews, David and Theo, and Favorite Niece, Ruby, live in Tacoma, walking distance from the south end of Puget Sound.

Last night David, Theo and Ruby's mom, my Favorite Little Sister Michele, emailed me some pics, with the subject line of "Snow Fun".

The text in the email explained what I was looking at in the pictures....

We went tubing at Snoqualmie Summit yesterday and then played in the snow at the Hyak Sno-Park. Super fun.  And just over an hour from our house.  I know you like things like this, so I thought I'd send some pics.

To which I replied....

I had not seen snow lanes for tubes before. That must be a new invention since last I was in that snow zone.

Theo trekking rather than taking the Magic Carpet

To  which my little sister further elaborated....

Yeah, I’d been hearing about the tubing center for a few years, but this was our first visit.  You have to make reservations and buy a ticket for a two hour session. They have 5 or 6 sessions that all seem to sell out.  They really hit on something.  It used to have a rope tow to get you and your rental tube back to the top, but now it is a Magic Carpet. 

David ready to be launched

The mention of a Magic Carpet had me questioning....

Magic Carpet????

Ruby taking a break at (I'm guessing) the Hyak Sno-Park

The Magic Carpet question had my little sister explaining....

Think of a narrow, enclosed, moving sidewalk, but it is carpeted. It is weird, cuz you can feel the rollers under your feet.

This Magic Carpet thing intrigued me. The only means by which I have ever been transported up a snow covered mountain has been via chairlift, rope tow or gondola.

It did not take much Googling to find out that the ski resort  at the summit of Snoqualmie Pass is now called The Summit at Snoqualmie. I can not remember what this ski area was named whilst I still lived in the neighborhood. There are several ski resorts in the Snoqualmie Pass Summit area, in addition to The Summit at Snoqualmie, such as Hyak and  Alpental.

On The Summit at Snoqualmie website I found the conveyance which transports tubers up the hill referred to as the Magic Carpet, with it being explained as "our convenient covered conveyor surface lift that whisks you to the top of the hill..."

Seems like this Magic Carpet thing must be quite a feat of engineering, somehow adjusting to the ever changing snow depth.

The last time I was on a chair lift at Snoqualmie Summit it was not to go skiing. At some point in time in the late 1990s, myself, and some fellow mountain bikers, rode the chair lift up the mountain to easily access some extremely bumpy trails. The chairs were retrofitted to hold a bike, which rode on the chair ahead of the one the rider rode to the top.

As I recollect a large number of bikers were using this elevation gaining method. I remember the long ride back to start was a lot of fun. I do not remember how many times I took my bike up the chair lift that day....