TAKE A SNOW
DAYIf snow is falling, that can mean only
one thing: It's time to slip on a parka, strap on some ski
boots, and hit the slopes! Lucky for you, lots of fun new
things are opening - from spas to restaurants to ski runs -
at many of the alpine resorts. - Jill
Fergus
Terrain and
Trails
Beaver Creek (www.beavercreek.com), in
Colorado, known for its top-notch children's programs, now offers
the eight-passenger Buckaroo Express Gondola, which serves a newly
created area where tykes can learn downhill basics. Farther south,
in Telluride (www.tellurideskiresort.com),
experts can test their skills on eight new runs in the Black Iron
Bowl, a challenging backcountry-style terrain that was previously
inaccessible without the services of a guide. And at Utah's Park
City Mountain Resort (www.parkcitymountain.com),
Motherlode Meadows, a newly landscaped space between the Single
Jack and Sunnyside trails, offers exciting gladed-runs for
intermediate and advanced skiers.
Nature and Adventure
Activities
At Heavenly (www.skiheavenly.com), in
California, you can pretend you're an alpine Tarzan while you zoom
down Adventure Peak's new Heavenly Flyer, an elevated zip-line
cable ride that can reach up to 50 mph and has a vertical drop of
525 feet. Or try your hand at a wildlife safari at Spring Creek
Ranch (www.springcreekranch.com) in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Naturalist Kurt Johnson leads groups into
Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks to see elk, bison, and
more. Advanced skiers and boarders should head to California's
Squaw Valley (www.squaw.com),
which now offers a number of backcountry tours in formerly
restricted areas.
Restaurants
All that fun in the snow works up a mighty appetite. Fortunately,
the popular Sacramento-area sushi restaurant Mikuni (www.mikunisushi.com) has opened
its doors in the village at California's Northstar-at- Tahoe, where
you can try specialty items like the Northstar and Burton rolls.
For a different dining experience, ride the gondola in Jackson Hole
(www.jacksonhole.com) to
an elevation of 9,095 feet and eat at the on-mountain restaurant
Couloir. And in Colorado, west of Beaver Creek, the Ritz-Carlton
Bachelor Gulch welcomes a branch of Spago (www.ritzcarlton.com). Expect
classic Wolfgang Puck dishes like smoked-salmon pizza topped with
caviar, and roasted organic chicken with potato puree.
Spas
Keystone Lodge & Spa's (www.keystonelodge.rockresorts.com)
newly expanded eco-minded spa now makes Keystone the largest spa
facility in Colorado's Summit County. The Mountain Glow scrub and
Sun & Snow facial are perfect, pampering après-ski treatments.
Or, after a day schussing down the slopes, treat your aching
muscles to a little time in the caldarium (a mineral-rich soaking
pool in a heated room) at Allegria Spa at the Park Hyatt Beaver
Creek (www.parkhyattbeavercreek.com).
It's just one of the many features of the spa's Roman-style
hydrotherapy center. Farther north, at Jackson Hole's Teton
Mountain Lodge & Spa (www.tetonlodge.com), the
three-story Solitude Spa pampers guests with treatments like the
Skin Indulgence Glacier Body Wrap and a huge outdoor hot tub that
affords jaw-dropping views of the Rockies.