Snow Mountain Brings True Winter Experience to Atlanta
categories: Miscellaneous, Stuff I like to talk about
There is nothing more pathetic than a southern child hoping and whining that they want snow.
As a parent, particularly one who grew up in a "snow state" and who has the childhood memories of sledding, making snow forts, having snowball wars and, of course, bumper hitching , you feel like you are depriving your children of critical childhood experiences by living in the South. It isn’t made easier when at the sign of each snow flurry they ask: "Is it going to stick? Huh, Dad? Huh, Dad?"
Well, Stone Mountain has taken a bit of the adult guilt away with the introduction of Snow Mountain . It has been pretty cold, by Atlanta standards, the last couple of weeks, so last Sunday we scrounged every bit of warm clothing, every mitten, glove and hat and every piece of footwear that might pass as a snow boot and headed to Snow Mountain. My son wore his lacrosse cleats; effective, but not particularly warm!
We didn’t know if we would find two inches of snow or two feet. Being the guardian of dashed expectations, I warned the kids to expect very little actual snow. This is Atlanta after all. I think one of my daughters actually thought there would be snow on THE Stone Mountain itself and you would tube off the sides. That would be a heck of a ride, albeit probably your last ride.
Snow Mountain is no where close to the scale of the indoor ski areas that are so laughable in the Middle East - like the grotesque one in Dubai (financed by the American oil consumer) pictured above. However, Snow Mountain is a gallant effort at giving the kids a "snow experience."
It is essentially a tube run (seven lanes wide) down the slope of the lawn where they hold the firework displays in the summer. Jeff Davis, Bob Lee and Stoney Jackson overlook the scene from the face of the mountain. At the bottom of the tube run is a play area where kids can make snow castles, shovel snow and have snowball target practice.
Having grown up in Colorado where we have actual snow and mountains, I was a little skeptical when the family was planning the trip…probably a waste of time I thought…and everyone would get wet and cold because we really don’t have the right clothing. When we came around the corner on Highway 78 and you get the panoramic view of Stone Mountain I joked to the kids that it wasn’t snow capped!
These are our pictures from our Snow Mountain visit:
Our trip turned out to be really fun, though. It was the most snow/ice that the kids has seen in one place before and they loved it. The line for the tube run is excruciatingly long, but the tube run itself is a blast. We went from 4:30-6:30 (You can only buy a ticket for a two-hour time period), and the sun went down and the hill got very icy, as the temperature was in the high 20’s when we left.
In typical 21st century style, you are conveyed to the top of the hill by a moving sidewalk. It is all very controlled so that not too many people are on the tube run at one time. It’s not like in our childhoods where you got as many rides as you were willing to run - and eventually walk as you got tired - back up the hill. When we first got there the line for the tube run was an hour long. Later it was down to 20-30 minutes. We only got in three tube runs; however, in the only thing that matters, the family tube race, Dad won! Weight has its advantages.
Snow Mountain was a strange combination of southern accents and snow; lots of hunting clothing and not much gortex; and, parents who knew better and kids who didn’t. That is why it was great.
Thanks for posting this- been thinking about taking the kids, but it’s been so cold these past few weeks. Hoping for a break in the temp so we can go for it.
How was the snowman/fort section? I have a few little ones too small to go on the tubes most likely so I need to have something fun for them to do.
Also, the 1 hour line is out of control- from the beginning they said they were going to limit ticket sales to control the lines. Sounds like that didn’t happen
Thanks again for your post!
Dave, I don’t know that I’d do it if my kids were smaller and couldn’t tube. The snow play ground is OK, but pretty icy. For the price of admission, I’d probably just hope that it snowed for real and your kid could go outside and play in it.
They do limit the number of tickets, but perhaps the number is too high. Basically only 7 people can be on the hill at a time and the moving sidewalk regulates how quickly people can get up the hill. It is not like when we grew up and there were ten’s of kids on a hill at a time and you were always trying to crash your sister. I agree, the line is too long for the price. The most number of rides we could get was three.