PINECREST, Calif. — Hiding within the Stanislaus National Forest along Highway 108 is California’s biggest snow play facility. The Tuolumne County sledding hills are called Leland Snowplay and owner Lance Vetesy says it was made for serious and not so serious sledders.
“Sometimes when the snow is really fast you have to drag your feet to slow down, but it is a big thrill the whole way down,” said Vetesy. “We are the largest independent standalone snow park that there is, and we are only going to get bigger.”
Leland Snowplay is a 60-acre park near the mountain community of Leland Meadows. There are more than a dozen racing hills and piles of sledding tubes to choose from. The real magic to this place is the magic carpet, which is essentially a conveyor belt to the top.
“Kids and their parents don’t have to walk up the hill. It takes all the work out of sledding,” said Vetesy.
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Leland Snowplay has been a family-run business since 1992. Vetesy says when he opened the place, all he had was a dream and an abandoned wreck at the end of a steep hill.
“It was a boarded-up building. The first tool I bought was a crowbar to pull the plywood off the windows,” said Vetesy.
In the beginning, Lance rented the property and went dumpster diving for old innertubes to ride on.
“I could afford innertube patches but not tubes, so I would spend all summer patching old tubes to use in the winter,” he said.
Vetesy’s marketing worked so well that he was eventually able to buy the land, and he still sees repeat customers today, like long-time visitor Justin Kinsinger.
“I grew up going here on school field trips and now, 30 years later, I got my boy here and this is his first time to Leland Meadows,” said Kinsinger.
The sledding dream that Vetesy had more than 30 years ago has come true. He traded in his dumpster innertubes for sleeker sleds, and his two sons are now preparing to take over and make California’s biggest snow play park even bigger.
“We are not done growing yet. We are excited for the future and things are only going to get bigger and better for us,” said Vetesy.
MORE WINTER FUN ON THE BACKROADS: Johnsville is home to the oldest ski competition. The races started during the gold rush era in the early 1860s by miners who built long wooden skis out of vertical-grained Douglas fir to get around in the snow.
