You don’t need a winter weather forecast for the Beano. We know that every year there will be a snowdrift on the comic’s masthead and a prolonged cold snap will send Billy Whizz racing downhill on a teatray. There will always be a supply of snowballs to throw at softies and enough of snow to make a giant white boulder that can engulf dogs, grannies and anything else in its path as it hurtles down to the tuck shop in Beanotown.
My son’s a Beano fanatic and feels rather cheated by the gap between the frosty fantasy of his comic and the reality of our global - warmed grey winters. So what is the answer if I want to provide him with some straightforward cartoon frolics in the snow? Certainly not a skiing holiday with all its rigid lessons, rules and expensive equipment - when did you ever see a Beano character wearing salopettes? After a little internet research and comic cross-referencing I came up with the idea of a snow tubing weekend in Switzerland.
Sliding down an icy slope on a large inner tube that you can neither steer nor stop may sound foolhardy, but it is the sheer lack of control makes the activity such screamingly good fun. Unlike other winter sports, tubing requires little skill or effort, which probably explains why it originated in the couch-potato-continent of North America (if Homer Simpson had to enter the Winter Olympics, downhill racing on a giant doughnut would be his obvious choice)
Actually snow tubing is very safe, non competitive and doesn’t require any expensive equipment – in fact since the simple equation of tractor tyre+ gravity + snow = lots of fun was discovered the only technical refinements have been a protective covering for the tubes and dedicated snow runs. Beyond that it is literally is child’s play that can be enjoyed from the very first slide.
Switzerland leads the way in Europe for snow tubing runs with over thirty Swiss ski resorts listing the activity on the tourist board’s website. Most of the places have one or two short runs but Leysin close to Lake Geneva offers the most concentrated fun with what amounts to a water flume park made out of condensed snow. Leysin’s ‘Tobogganing Park’ next to the town’s outdoor ice rink has eight pistes ranging in length from 100 to 250 metres that run from a small hill topped by a wooden tower. The title of park is misleading as there are no hard toboggans or sharp sledges to crash into, just three sizes of soft inflatable tubes to choose from. There is an attractive homemade feel about place and a lot of thought has gone into layout that includes an ingenious rope lift to haul you to the slopes, a mini-run for children under 6 years old and even a tube roundabout for toddlers.
The ‘Tobogganing Park’ is the brainchild of local Olympic bobsleigh champion Silvio Giobellina. He came up with the idea nine years ago when the snow was so deep in Leysin that all of the ski runs had to close and the local council asked him to come up with something to entertain the hundreds of stranded visitors. Silvio used his experience from his old job maintaining the famous St. Moritz bobsleigh course to produce a series of unique tube runs. Unlike the North America tracks that run in even straight lines Silvio created banked curves, twists and ice tunnels that give the rider something closer to a bobsleigh experience.
The park was a big success and Silivio has been refining his ice playground every year ever since. Although it is a real labour of love, as the whole place has to be built and carved from scratch every winter and then maintained daily to create the best tubing conditions. Next year is the tenth anniversary of the park and hopefully the blue eyed bobsleigher with the impish smile will be adding something special to his fabulous ice creation.
Next door to the Tobogganing Park is an enormous outdoor ice rink that as well the usual figure skating, ice hockey and curling, hosts a ‘go-karting on ice’ session ( surely a sport straight from the pages of the Beano ) every Saturday night throughout the winter season. The tourist office also offers plenty of child orientated activities including igloo building and the chance to go on a snowshoe detective hunt. And of course there is always skiing if you want to join the queues and the crowds at the ski lifts. My advice would be to go snow tubing in the morning and take the gondola to the mountain top restaurant, Le Kuklos for lunch. The views are terrific and after lunch perhaps you and your own Billy Whizz can make one of those giant white snowballs to roll all the way down to the snow tubing park.
Four out of five. A very joyful place where both my wife and myself revisited the excitement of the snowy days of our youth. My son and his friend Felix couldn’t get enough of the snow tubing - they were in comic caper heaven and would not have been surprised if Dennis the Menace himself had started pelting them with snowballs as they whizzed down the ice.
Crystal Ski Holidays (www.crystalski.co.uk or call 0871 231 2256) offer week long holidays in Leysin starting at £399 per person that include return flights, train transfers and half board accommodation
For a long weekend we found that the travel arrangements were so straightforward it was easier to book the trip online ourselves. Simply fly to Geneva (BA, Ryanair, Easyjet, Air France, Swissair all fly from the UK) and take a train from the railway station below the airport to Aigle. One change onto an exciting cog railway up the mountain and you can be in Leysin in less than two hours from touchdown. Accommodation is easy too and we stayed at a reasonable three star hotel (Central Residence tel. 0041 24 493 07 07 www.central-residence.ch) that had the all important family swimming pool They charged just £60 per adult (check) per night for half board with no charge for children under nine years old.
The snow tube park opens according to the weather conditions so check weather forecasts with the park itself before you book. www.tobogganing.ch/en. The best time to go for guaranteed icy conditions and snow is January although Silivio always aims to keep the park open until the end of March. Admission costs £6.50 for a child accompanied by adult for a two hour session and £10 per adult.
Local Tourist information www.leysin.ch. Rail timetables can be checked on www.rail.ch
For all further detail about Switzerland visit www.myswitzerland.com (look under 'excursion tips' for tobogganing and snow tubing information) or telephone 00800 100 200 30 (free-phone)