MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The arrival of winter weather has prompted employees at Chestnut Ridge Park to expect a large crowd to enjoy the snow.
Recreation Manager for Monongalia County Parks and Rec, Taylor Helms, announced on WAJR’s Morgantown Weekend that tickets are already sold out for one of the two days that the multi-lane tubing hill will be open ahead of what’s expected to be a snow-filled weekend. Tickets to take part in single two-hour sessions are on sale for $10 per ticket, with a separate self-serving sledding hill open free of charge throughout the weekend.
“So we are opening Saturday and Sunday, and Saturday is already sold out,” said Helms. “At this moment, I am not quite sure (for Sunday), but you can find all that information on our website, and they do typically sell out.”
The tubing hill at Chestnut Ridge Park includes four sliding lanes and a rope tow lift, with up to 50 participants allowed per time block. Each $10 ticket includes one tube rental and unlimited lift access, with the morning session starting at 10 a.m. and the afternoon session starting at 1 p.m. Helms encourages anyone looking to bring their friends or families to do something outdoors while it snows to purchase tickets, especially anyone looking to bring their children.
“You’re definitely going to have memories and fun that will last a lifetime,” said Helms. “The nice thing about our convenient rope tow lift is that it quickly carries you back up to the top so you can focus on having fun and not fatigued.”
Children must be at least 4 years old and 42 inches tall and be able to ride independently in order for them to take a ride on the Chestnut Ridge Park tubing hill.
According to Helms, the Chestnut Ridge Park’s self-serving sledding hill will be open all weekend with no limitations on the number of people allowed to sled while the park is open. Anyone with their own sled will be able to find the hill a short walk away from the tubing hill, with no time limits for anyone wishing to participate. The self-serving sledding hill will be open until the park closes at dusk.
“As always, we have our self-service sledding hill, you go over to the hill on the other side of the lake, opposite to where we have our established lift in the tubing hill,” said Helms. “That’s unsupervised, and as long as there’s snow, I mean, you could go sledding there every weekend if you want.”
Tickets will be on sale at the Chestnut Ridge Park website with refunds issued in the event that the sessions are cancelled due to unsafe conditions. All riders that participate must sign a waiver at the Chestnut Ridge Park Office upon arrival, with park staff encouraging signees to arrive around 30 minutes before the start of the session. With over six inches of snow expected to hit the ground in the Morgantown area over the weekend, Helms encourages those wishing to ride the tubing hill to buy tickets fast.
“So you can purchase tickets at monongaliacounty.gov, and then when you go on there, just click on the Chestnut Ridge Park page,” said Helms. “And then you’ll see a tab that is labeled Tubing Hill.”