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Making Tracks

The tracks in the snow-covered hills of the mid-Atlantic area are no longer simply the neat, parallel grooves left by downhill or Nordic skiers. Some of the new trails are broad, like those left by a giant disk. Others resemble huge footprints, like something left by a Sasquatch-like creature roaming the winter forests. These odd new signs aren't something out of "The X-Files"; they are just evidence that tubing and snowshoeing are booming at area winter resorts.

Tube It
Sledding, a family sport usually practiced on neighborhood hills, has taken a giant evolutionary step in the past few years. The classic metal-bladed, American Flyer-style sleds are out, and giant doughnut-shaped, plastic-covered tubes are in. And riding on those synthetic doughnuts, the sport has, well, slipped into a third of the mid-Atlantic ski areas, which have created tubing chutes and lift systems adjacent to their ski slopes. At Jack Frost Mountain in White Haven, Pa., the tubing run is a far different experience than found on your local hills. That resort's tubing mountain is the highest in the region: 12 stories tall -- a vertical drop of about 120 feet, though it may look like more than that -- with a ride of more than a thousand feet.

The growing popularity is easy to understand, says Joe Stevens, spokesman for the Snowshoe/Silver Creek resort in Slatyfork, W.Va., which just added a 10-story-high tubing chute at the Silver Creek area. "It's something that can be done without instruction and it's something that the whole family can do," he said. "It's a camaraderie thing. You see ski clubs who do it to break up the monotony of the day."

At Ski Roundtop in Lewisberry, Pa., spokesman Chris Dudding adds that tubing "takes no skill. That puts people at ease. And it's relatively inexpensive. Our fees run $7 to $8 per hour. And the thing about tubing is that an hour or two is usually enough for most people."

Tubing is also a family sport, he noted. "We've had families where kids, parents and grandparents come together and do it. We're finding that a majority of the people who go tubing have never gone skiing, and a lot of them don't have any interest in skiing until they get here. We also get a lot of business groups who come out here, do a pizza party in the lodge and then go tubing."

Dudding's advice for tubing novices: "Dress warmly and don't worry about the runs. It looks awful fast and awful high, but it really is a lot of fun."

Tracks in the Snow
Another "new" winter sport is actually a throwback to the backwoods gear that's been used for centuries. Before there were snowmobiles and sport-utility vehicles, backcountry explorers and trappers used snowshoes, hand made from wood and sinew, to help them travel through deep snow. Today's snowshoes aren't anything like those used by the mountain men. High-tech metals and synthetic fabrics have replaced the wooden frames and bindings, and these modern 'shoes have put snowshoeing literally back on its feet.

"Snowshoeing has really grown a lot in the last few years," said Chip Chase, manager of White Grass Touring Center in West Virginia's Canaan Valley, one area whose forests are attracting snowshoers. "It is just huge!"

How difficult is the sport? "Absolutely easy," said Chase. "Far, far easier than skiing. You can use ski poles, and if you use them you can get into the cross-country ski rhythm. It gets you out in the winter."

Chase's enthusiasm is echoed by such people as Gwyn Hicks, of the American Hiking Society, whose group is sponsoring a Feb. 21 Winter Trails Day with snowshoe activities and demonstrations at White Grass and other resorts across the country, and Wilbur McBay, owner of the Ski Chalet chain of stores in the Washington area.

"We sold more snowshoes than we had ever sold last year," McBay said. "It's catching on all over the country. We put them on the shelves and they just sell out."

The snowshoes range in price from $50 to $300. Manufacturers include Tubbs, Powder Wings and Atlas. For more information on snowshoes, visit a ski shop or an outdoor equipment dealer such as REI. Backcountry explorers can rent them ($12 midweek, $15 weekends and holidays) at White Grass. For more information on the Winter Trails Day activities on Feb. 21, call the American Hiking Society's Winter Trails hot line at 800/767-4453 or visit its Web site: www.snowlink.com.

Snowmobiles
If snowshoeing and tubing are too quiet for your tastes, another activity at Jack Frost may be more suited to your interests: roaring around a quarter-mile loop on a snowmobile.

But don't expect to set any speed records, cautions Cindy Derolf, business manager at the White Haven, Pa., resort. "The snowmobiles have governors on their engines, so they are not full out," she said. "They ride on a course that is groomed and has 100 percent snow-making."

Drivers must have a current driver's license. The cost for a half-hour is $29 for the one-person snowmobile, $42 for the two-person ride. Children can ride with licensed drivers.

Closing
Alpine Lake, a small weekends- and holidays-only ski resort in Terra Alta, W.Va., will not operate this season. A resort spokesman, citing "setbacks," said the resort would have a sledding area and a beginners hill, but only if it snows. Call 304/789-2481.