Sledding is Colorado’s most underrated winter sport. A Hill, a good snow day and an inexpensive piece of plastic and you can have hours of fun outdoors. People pay hundreds of dollars to go skiing. But the cost to sled is minimal, and can be just as much fun. Now your own two legs do have to also carry you up the hill. A little more work is involved. But that is part of what makes it so refreshing. When you wrap up a day of sledding, you know you’ve earned your hot cocoa. Steamboat Springs sledding is no exception.

Howelsen Hill

While Steamboat Springs is known for ranches and champagne powder, kids and adults alike also enjoy their winter sledding fun. Steamboat Mountain boasts 17 lifts, 170 trails and 2965 acres of skiable terrain. It is definitely the place to head in town for a robust ski experience. But unique to ski resort towns, Steamboat Springs also has a small ski hill right in town.

Howelsen Hill ski area is small but mighty. Continuously operating longer than any other ski area in Colorado, Howelsen is home to seventeen alpine trails and nine Nordic trails. And, it also has a sledding hill. The Howelsen Hill snowmaking teams blow a 20 foot tall hill of snow that is know as the community sledding hill. The hill continues to grow as snow accumulates.

This sledding hill is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The snowmaking team also grooms the sledding hill sporadically. It is completely free, and there is plenty of parking.

Note: At one point snow tubing was offered at Howelsen Hill. It isn’t any longer.

Steamboat II

Steamboat II is one of the neighborhoods where locals live. It is located just off US41, near Silver Spur and Heritage Park. Like many Colorado neighborhoods, there’s a hill or two that Mother Nature graces with snow. But this neighborhood also offers an ice skating rink, nordic trails and a groomed sledding hill!

There’s parking on Anchor Way by the mailboxes. This sledding hill offers a groomed open slope where kids and adults alike can get up some speed. The more adventurous may even be able to find a jump or two where they can get some additional thrills.

Snow Tubing at Saddleback Ranch

Head a few minutes out of town for family fun at Saddleback Ranch. You’ll find snow tubing, sleigh rides, horseback riding and various other kid-friendly activities at this real four generation working cattle ranch.

Didn’t rent a car? No problem. There’s a shuttle available from Mt. Werner Transit Center.

The snow tubing hill here is aptly named Yee-Haw Tubing Hill. You will want to make reservations in advance. 2021-2022 ticket pricing is $45 for two hours of fun speeding down one of three runs atop a large tube and then getting a lift back up by a state-of-the-art tube-tow lift system. There’s a warming lodge at the bottom with food and warm beverages available for sale.

Other Steamboat Sledding Hills

These are a few of the sledding hills in Steamboat Springs easily accessible to visitors. But likely, you can find many more tucked away in any neighborhood with a hill. Have any favorites that we missed? Tell us in the comments below.

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