Snow Park at Alpine Hills in Rockford opens for tubing tonight; terrain park awaits more snow
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Snow Park at Alpine Hills, the Rockford Park District’s winter playground for tubing and terrain park, opens for the first time this season tonight.
The year-round adventure park, at 4402 Larson Ave. off Alpine Road, will open tubing lanes tonight. The terrain park, which provides features for snowboarders and skiers to perform tricks, will open as a later date as weather and snowmaking allows.
“The snow park provides a fun and convenient opportunity for many to enjoy during the winter months,” said Josh Luebke, supervisor of Snow Park at Alpine Hills. “This 5-acre snow park is divided into separate tubing and terrain park sections designed to accommodate riders of all abilities.”
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The park will be open tonight through Monday for tubing only. It will then close for the remainder of Christmas week and reopen for the season on Monday, Dec. 30. Tubers reserve 90-minute time slots.
The park district uses three snowmaking machines to cover the gently sloping hill in snow when Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate.
Kyle Zimmerman, the district’s manager of capital maintenance, takes on building the tubing lanes and terrain park as a passion project. He said four straight-line tubing lanes will open to start the season. Additional tubing lanes are added, including some that meander in zig-zag directions, as more snow accumulates.
The rails, boxes and jumps in the terrain park will be installed once there is enough snow. There’s no set date for that right now.
“If I can knock it out for the weekend I’ll do it, I just don’t think I have enough snow to do it,” Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman, an avid snowmobiler, said he consults with snowboarders and has garnered feedback from Wisconsin resorts on their features before designing the terrain park.
The features here are intended for riders who are learning to cross their first boxes or rails.
The park typically features a small jump and ride-on rails and boxes intended to have low consequences if you can’t complete them.
“What we’ve found here is that we’re very, very beginner to give people that experience to learn how to ride a snowboard,” he said. “I still try to put in something bigger, there’s just not a lot of people who are riding it.”
The smaller features are created to accommodate beginners, but also because maintaining larger features is a more labor-intensive exercise than the park has the staff to maintain, Zimmerman said.
The district looks to keep its costs low to make sure the operation is sustainable in the future.
“We have people who come from Florida or southern states, and it’s the first time they’ve really seen snow. They can get on a snowboard and try it,” Zimmerman said. “It’s really cool to see people enjoy it like that.”
About | Snow Park at Alpine Hills
Reserve: Snow Park at Alpine Hills offers 90-minute snow tubing time slots. Tubing is not guaranteed without a reservation. You can reserve HERE.
Where: 4402 Larson Ave., Rockford
Opening Hours: 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday; 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday; 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday
Cost: $13 general admission; $10 ride share
More info: Go HERE
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
