Everett Potter's Travel Report

Jackson Hole: Superb skiing, and the views aren't bad

By David McKay Wilson

On the third day, it snowed.

It wasn’t an epic Jackson Hole storm, like the ones that dumped 557 inches at the Wyoming resort the previous year, or the storm that began as we departed, and left more than five feet on the mountain before it ended. But in the snow-starved winter of 2012, when mountain bikers in mid-January were making turns at Squaw Valley, the low-pressure system that brought a few inches to the mountain’s upper slopes provided just enough cover to provide a taste of Jackson in full snow dress.

While there was no shooting down Corbet’s Couloir or darting through the chute called Meet Your Maker, we discovered a powder stash in the trees in Wally’s World, made sweeping turns down the Cirque, and found a soft blanket of white stuff in Tensleep Bowl, where I found my rhythm in what my father liked to call “ballroom skiing.”

We’d come to Wyoming to test our Eastern ski legs on the mountains out West. With 4,139 vertical feet of terrain, and a $31 million aerial tram put up in 2008 that whisks you to the summit in just nine minutes, Jackson Hole had long been on my bucket list of skiing destinations.

With so little snow in the Northeast, I’d done most of my training on my road bike, knowing I’d need considerable muscle tone in my 58-year-old legs so I could chase my two teenage sons and their cousin down some of North America’s toughest terrain.

As my boys become teens, these skiing adventures have grown progressively more fun, and more demanding, as they’ve developed their skiing mojo, and lusted for the steeps.  Skiing is one of the few recreational pursuits that families can enjoy together, over extended periods. Skiing together all day can cement bonds, and provide the kind of outdoor challenge that builds character, confidence and endurance. I declared victory after making it to 4 p.m. each day.

Jackson's town square

Lodging runs the gamut – from $37 for a bunk at The Hostel at the mountain base, to $1,249 for a one-bedroom suite the Four Seasons Jackson Hole.

We stayed in a comfy three-bedroom unit at the Nez Perce condominiums in Teton Village, which rent for $460 a night, and was serviced by a shuttle that takes you to the mountain base. Across the street, we soaked our weary muscles in the outdoor hot-tub and watched the clouds turn from mauve to orange one night as the sun set behind the mountain and Venus rose sparkling the West.

Dining options abound at the mountain – from sausage-stuffed olives and Kurobuta pork chops at Il Villagio Osteria to the Couloir at the top of the Bridger Gondola. Lunch can hit the spot: braised bison sliders with roasted garlic-horseradish aioli, roasted golden beet and apple salad, and grilled natural chicken Cubano, with shaved apple, caramelized onions, melted brie, topped with wild arugula. My boys stuck to the hefty Couloir Burger, with its juicy Kobe beef, smoked bacon, and Ballard cheddar.

Upon our arrival, talk quickly turned to snow, and the lack thereof in most of the United States. The coast-to-coast snow drought in December through mid-January had skiers across the nation making tracks for the northwest corner of Wyoming, where Jackson Hole and Grand Targhee boasted some of the nation’s best snow cover.

It has proved a bonanza for the Wyoming tourist industry, with powder hounds we met from Colorado, Utah and California abandoning their home hills for a holiday in the Tetons.

Jackson Hole's tram

Grand Targhee, the resort outpost high up on the western face of Wyoming’s Teton Range provided an unexpected delight on our trip’s second day. It’s a breathtaking 70-minute drive from Jackson over the Teton Pass, and up a winding road to the resort, perched at 7,800 feet.

Those feeling the pinch from Jackson Hole’s $95 lift-ticket can find solace at Targhee, paying just $69 for a day on the slopes, with an array of high-speed quad lifts to cover its 2,100 vertical rise with alacrity. If you didn’t rent a car, hop the Grand Targhee Express shuttle from Jackson Hole for $95, which includes a lift ticket.

The wide-open bowls are mostly blue runs – broad open expanses that are plenty steep to get you moving, but gentle enough to make intermediates into heroes on powder days.

We favored the north-facing shots off the Headwall, where the snow on a run called Bad was particularly good. Lines were non-existent on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. By mid-afternoon, my 13-year-old-son, Tom, was looking for adventure.

He’d heard about the peak called Mary’s Nipple, which rises to close to 10,000 feet on the resort’s eastern boundary, with its steep bowl offering enticing opportunities and a spectacular view of the Grand Teton beyond. To get there, you ski from the Dreamcatcher lift, and then climb 20 minutes up a ridge that turns steep near the top.

“Can we do Mary’s?” Tom asked with serious intent, and his boyish smirk.

What’s a Dad to do when his 13-year-old declares he’d like to climb Mary’s Nipple? Here was a chance for bragging rights upon his return to middle school. Here was an opportunity for him to test his mettle. And here was my time to see what I had left in the tank for my son in mid-afternoon.

We hoisted our skis to our shoulders, and Tom followed me on the climb, moving slow and steady, in the frozen-over boot tracks left by earlier climbers.  A step off the hardened path sank us into thigh-deep snow, just as a powerful wind-gust peppered us with icy pellets.

“It’s scary, Dad,” said Tom, as he struggled to his feet. “But I’m not scared.”

We rested for a spell at the top, then clicked on our skis. Tom took the lead, traversing along the cornice to the north-facing wall, where a foot of a steep field of powder lay, untouched. Tom had found his edge, which alpine vacations can lead you to. He had the legs, and the moxie, to experience the scary. And Tom wasn’t scared.

Grand Targhee: www.grandtarghee.com

Jackson Hole: www.jacksonhole.com

Targhee Express:

http://www.jacksonholealltrans.com/targheeexpress.html

David McKay Wilson has written on travel over the past 30 years as a freelance journalist, with his travel stories appearing in The Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, Hartford Courant, New Haven Advocate, and Gannett News Service. An avid cyclist and skier, Wilson enjoys vacationing in the mountains and by the sea. His articles on public affairs have appeared regularly in The New York Times. He’s currently the nation’s top freelance writer for university alumni magazines, with his work appearing in publications at 81 colleges and universities, including Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown and the University of Chicago.

The skier's bible, back when

by Tom Passavant

A hot day in New York City, summer 1978. My friend Jim Petersen walks into my office at Playboy magazine. “I hear the guys downstairs at Playboy Press want to do some lifestyle books. Let’s go talk to them.” Jim pitches Charlie, the editorial director, an idea for a book of sex advice, based on 10 years of being the Playboy adviser. Charlie turns him down. I pitch a travel guide to the Caribbean. No dice. As we turn to leave, Charlie asks, “Got any other ideas?”

Off the top of his head, Jim replies: “Sure. How about a guide to the top 25 ski resorts in North America?” “Fine,” says Charlie. “Give me a budget.” Out in the hallway, we make up a contract. We ask for, and get, $25,000 and two winters off work to do research.

Fast forward to mid-December 1978. We have just completed out first bit of “research” at Crested Butte. We are numb from very deep powder and very late evenings — boogie nights with the locals, featuring exploits that are eventually deemed too outrageous even for a book with “Playboy” in the title. Now, we are about to be decanted into a tiny aircraft for the 10-minute flight to Aspen, for which Crested Butte was supposed to be a warm-up.

Aspen proves to be even crazier. Jim’s notes begin with, “Our Father, who art in Aspen, Hollywood be thy name …” One morning we’re riding a triple chair with a guy with deeply bloodshot eyes. “Man, what a party last night,” he raves. “The guys from Playboy. Blondes. Booze. Coke. Indiscriminate sex.” Err … wait a minute. We’re the guys from Playboy, and we weren’t at the party. At least, not that we recall.

Eventually we learn to pace ourselves. One problem is that although I am a semicompetent skier and Jim is considerably better than that, when we show up at, say, Snowbird or Jackson Hole, our local hosts send us directly up the gondola with the head of ski patrol and a couple of former Olympians, and the only option is ski or die. Other resorts pair us with beautiful women guides, who pose challenges of another sort. (The statute of limitations has run out, but we remain silent to this day.)

Our first winter finally over, we head back to the office to recover and try to decipher our notes. Our style is Hunter S. Thompson meets Arthur Frommer — wild anecdotes (all of them true) and breathless ski descriptions followed by places to eat and stay. We have developed a list of questions that unlock the secrets of each resort. Ask locals about their fi nest day, and you get the reason they became locals. Ask where they go on their birthday or to impress a hot date, and you get the best restaurants and bars. When we ask a guy in Jackson Hole for the ratio of males to females, he replies, “Nine.” Nine percent? “No, nine females.”

We’re also responsible for paying for the book’s numerous photos, and we quickly realize we’re unlikely to capture any iconic images ourselves during our drive-by visits. So we cut a deal with the best local photographers at each resort: After we pay our expenses, we’ll give them all of the rest of our advance. Not one objects.

Our second winter is mellower. We spend time in New England, then California. We spend three weeks on the road, with one week back in the office to answer mail and do laundry. By late spring we’re at Snowbird and Alta, skiing epic, whiteout powder for days, falling through elevator shafts full of fluff, thunder booming above us on the invisible ridgelines.

Finally we’re done. Cooked. Wrung out. Eventually the book appears, to general praise among hard-core skiers, and total indifference from the bookbuying public. But then a funny thing happens: Playboy’s Guide to Ultimate Skiing becomes a sort of underground classic. The ski magazines adopt some of our writing tics, especially the cheeky captions and letit-all-hang-out narrative. One day the famous novelist James Salter (Downhill Racer, etc.) appears in my office, introduces himself politely, and asks if he might purchase our book. No way; I give him a copy.

And wait — it gets better. The friends we made on our travels are still friends. Twenty years later, I moved to Aspen. Jim — his love long unrequited — is finally moving to Colorado this winter.

What began as a heat-of-the-moment fling has somehow become an abiding, lifelong love affair with the mountains. And somehow, we owe it all to Playboy.

Tom Passavant is a former editor-in-chief of Diversion magazine. Now a freelance travel and food writer based in Colorado and Hawaii, his work has appeared in Aspen Magazine, Gourmet, Four Seasons Magazine, Town & Country Travel, ForbesTraveler.com, Ski, Powder, Luxury Living, and many other places. He is the co-author of “Playboy’s Guide to Ultimate Skiing.” A former president of the New York Travel Writers Association, Passavant has won a Lowell Thomas Award for his travel writing and has served as judge for the James Beard Journalism Awards. See more of Tom’s work at TomPassavant.com.

Stein Eriksen Lodge, an idyllic location in the equally idyllic Deer Valley

By Gerrie Summers

As much as I loathe freezing temperatures and only enjoy the sight of snow from the interior of a very warm building, Stein Eriksen Lodge in Utah, is one of a short list of places that could inspire me to take a winter vacation in a cold destination!

Stein Eriksen Lodge is the award-winning luxury ski resort of Norwegian skier and Olympic gold medalist Stein Eriksen, and is Utah’s only Forbes Five Star, AAA Five Diamond property. Located slopeside at mid-mountain at 8,200 feet in Deer Valley, Park City, Utah it’s a short 45-minute drive from the Salt Lake City airport.  The property has 180 rooms in four categories (Deluxe Bedrooms, Luxury Bedrooms, Luxury Suites and Grand Suites).  Each room is unique in architecture, room design and décor. The luxury suites feature gourmet kitchens, a living room and a master bedroom with stone fireplaces, oversized jetted tubs and hot tubs on the deck.  You won’t want to leave—trust me.

The Spa at Stein Eriksen Lodge

Award-Winning Spa

I was in Utah for an open house for the lodge’s spa. The spa has had a recent expansion to 20,000 square feet, including renovation of the pool deck, fitness center and locker room.  It now has 16 treatment rooms, including two couples treatment rooms and two wet treatment rooms.  The rooms are warmed and detoxified by handcrafted salt lamps.

The spa treatments incorporate indigenous ingredients such as cedar, sage and salts.  Signature treatments like The Great Salt Stone Therapy, Pigment Balancing Facial and Skier Boot Therapy (Hiker Boot Therapy in the summer season) are unique to the resort.   I tried the Hiker Boot Therapy after a hike of Wasatch Mountains (and my first chairlift ride!), that and the Signature Stein Massage helped with a surprising bout of altitude sickness.  (The spa also sells oxygen packs).

In November, the spa completed and opened the 3, 000 square foot Verdani wellness center.  The wellness center offers cardio sculpt; mat Pilates and yoga classes, as well as pre-ski stretch and after-ski stretch sessions.   Also that month, the spa was awarded the Forbes Five Star Award, making it the first spa in Utah to receive the industry’s highest designation, joining 30 leading spas in the world.

WHAT TO DO BESIDES SKI

Dine at the award-winning Glitretind restaurant, which features a classic and elegant dining experience, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner menu created by Executive Chef Zane Holmquist. There are private wine seminars with Sommelier Cara Schwindt, offered in the 10,000-bottle wine cellar. Or have lunch at Royal Street Cafe, which features  comfort food and signature libations like the Blue Mojito and Holly Berry Martini.

Park City

Ten minutes away is Park City, and you can visit boutiques and galleries along Park City’s quaint historic Main Street. Pay a visit to the Park City Museum with exhibits on Park City’s history, including The Dungeon, located in the original territorial jail in the basement of the historic City Hall.  It has an interesting touch screen exhibit of the city’s bad guys, featuring actors portraying jail cell inhabitants—pretty spooky, really.  Must be a great draw at Halloween!

Located conveniently at the bottom of Quittin’ Time Ski Run, High West is the world’s only ski-in gastro-distillery. Proprietor David Perkins gives a spirited (pun intended) tour of the High West Distillery & Saloon.  Tours are free.  Sigh, the whiskey is not.

For more information on Stein Eriksen Lodge, visit www.steinlodge.com.

  Gerrie Summers has been writing professionally for over 30 years in the areas of entertainment, beauty, lifestyle, travel and wellness. A New York-based writer, she has been the Travel Adventures columnist for Today’s Black Woman and now writes the blogs Summers Retreat and The Tranquil Traveler.

The scene at Tio Bob's at Portillo, Chile

By Everett Potter

Portillo sits in a wonderland of knife-edged peaks and turquoise lakes, where Chile’s Andes Mountains climb 19,000 feet into the sky. Yet despite the stark vistas and the distance from civilization, this mountain outpost breathes elegance and polish, a living tribute to what skiing used to be. And, to the guests who return year after year, what it still is. Why is Portillo, Chile one of my favorite places in the world. Read the rest of my article at Ski magazine

In May 2003, the Saddleback Ski Area in Maine was down to one employee, general manager Tom McAllister. Forced to lay off his entire staff, McAllister announced that the family-friendly ski area in Rangeley would close down unless a buyer was found. In stepped Bill Berry, an avid skier who taught skiing for 25 years at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington, Maine, and had skied and cherished Saddleback. Few realized that this former professor of geology at the University of Maine, Farmington, had family money to play with. Now there are more than 100 employees working on the mountain and more than a quarter of them are at Saddleback year-round. The Berry family has invested more than $12 million in improvements so far, including a new base lodge, three times the size of its predecessor, lifts, a terrain park and halfpipe, and the opening of a new glade, Casablanca, which at 44 acres is the largest glade in the Northeast.  The mountain’s 2000-foot vertical drop is not far behind the 2,360-foot drop at Stowe, so don’t mistake Saddleback for a small ski area. The Rangeley Inn, my favorite hotel in the region, has just announced a midweek special where if you spend a night at the lodging, they’ll throw in a free lift ticket at Saddleback. Check it out!
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Cortina d'Ampezzo

By Everett Potter

After two days in Cortina, Italy’s chicest ski resort, I had chalked up many firsts. I had enjoyed the craggy beauty and challenges of the snow-covered Dolomites, skiing between jagged pink rock spires under ever-changing Alpine skies. I marveled as Italian skiers forsook alcohol apres ski, indulging instead in gelato, which they ate alfresco so they could grab the last rays of the weak winter sun. As I strolled through Cortina, I saw my first-ever Porsche dealership on the main street of a ski town, the windows filled with dazzling candy-colored sports cars. Then there was the constant parade of fur coats during the passeggiatta, which turned Corso Italia into a Milan catwalk every evening.

But one thing I had not seen in two days of intense exploration were moguls, the irregular bumps that form on busy ski trails and can offer a formidable challenge to skiers of any ability. So I turned to my guide, an amiable woman named Christina, and asked her why.

She looked at me like I was to be pitied.

“Moguls?”  she said. “Of course there are no moguls. We groom every run every night. What would the nice ladies from Rome do if they saw a mogul? They would go home .”

Indeed, skiing in Italy is not like skiing in the United States. Or anywhere else in Europe, for that matter. Simply staying in a resort like Cortina counts as a ski trip for a certain class of Italian, who motors up from Bologna or Venice or Rome for the wintery good life. Sometimes for the entire season, if you’ve got a name like Prada or Agnelli.
Regardless of the resort, the bella figura remains the one constant. One must look very good, very pulled together and as chic as possible whether on the slopes or making the evening passeggiatta on village streets. Sure, you will see well-turned out skiers in Stowe, Aspen or St. Anton. But it’s not a mandate at these resorts.  In Italy, skiing is as stylish as most everything else Italians put their minds too. Why else do you think there are mirrors at the base of ski lifts in Cortina?

The skiing itself can be challenging, if you know where to look, especially at resorts such as Sestriere. After all, this is the country that produced Alberto Tomba, who learned to ski in Cortina, and whose accomplishments both on the slopes and apres ski are legendary, oft repeated and oft embellished.

That said, many Italians seem to prefer easy cruisers. In a resort like Cortina, the classic Italian ski day starts with a slopeside appearance no earlier than, say 10 AM, and often later. Eager Americans who need to be on the first chair of the day will usually have that chair to themselves. And the next one, and the one after that.

The late-ish start is followed by a few runs before lunch, which can easily consume two hours or more. After a few more of runs, it’s time for apres ski, then steam or sauna or nap. Then you dress for the passeggiatta with fellow fur-clad Romans, Bolognese and Milanese. Followed by drinks, dinner, and postprandial mischief.

Food is another aspect of the Italian ski experience. You can’t argue with the menu in French resorts such as Megeve or Courchevel, and you’ll eat well in Zermatt and Verbier in Switzerland. But then there’s Italy. In simple mountain rifugios or huts, you’ll find extraordinarily good pastas and game dishes, as well as local mountain specialities. In Cortina, for example, there’s casunzei, ravioli of beets and poppy seeds found on lunch menus. In the Sella Ronda area, it’s not uncommon to come across an outdoor ice  bar,  a giant block of ice hollowed out for locally made grappa in frosty bottles. In the evening in Cortina, you can head to Enoteca, run by Gaspari Girolamo, a gorgeous wood-paneled bar, perfect for savoring some Parmigiano Reggiano anointed with antico balsamico, along with a glass of prosecco. At night, finding somewhere for a simple repast or a Michelin-noteworthy restaurant isn’t difficult.

But here’s what else you should know about skiing in Italy. At many Italian ski hotels, you must book a one week stay, from Saturday to Saturday. Most resorts work on a half board plan, offering you breakfast and dinner in the price of your room. If you’d rather go to different places for dinner each night, look at bed & breakfast offerings. By far the easiest way to book an Italian ski vacation is to go through a tour operator, such as Ski.com or Ski Europe , or a specialist like Chips Lindenmeyr at  Lindenmeyr Travel. Here’s a look at the best resorts in the country.

Bormio

BORMIO
More of an historic mountain town than a ski resort, Bormio has long been known for offering good value. Located in the Rhaetian Alps near the Swiss and Austrian borders, it lies just across the border from St. Moritz in Switzerland. There are both open alpine pistes and wooded runs on the mountain. If you need more challenges, there are three other ski areas nearby: the Valdidentro Valley; Santa Caterina; and Livigno, which about an hour away. They’re all covered by a common ski pass. But it’s the medieval village that may be the most memorable part of your trip. The Hotel Posta is located in the heart of the old town, a four-star property.

Cervinia

CERVINIA
Many Americans discover Cervinia almost by accident. The discovery comes when they’ve booked a ski vacation in adjacent Zermatt, Switzerland and then learn then can ski over to Cervinia for lunch. That lunch run is a glorious seven miles of cruising, and the wide open and frequently sunny cruisers exemplify this popular resort that lies in the shadow of the Matterhorn. While the architecture won’t win any awards, the snowfall is justifiably acclaimed. Cervinia is one of the highest ski resorts in the Alps, with a village height of 6,500 feet and a ski area that rises up to 11,400 feet. Which means that it has the most reliable snow from early December until late April in all of Italy. Considering that you can live La Dolce Vita and ski over to Zermatt’s slopes, there’s a lot to offer. The Hotel Hermitage Cervinia is a Relais & Chateaux property offering the most comfort in the village.

Cortina d'Ampezzo

CORTINA
For a single resort town that offers the best Italian ski experience — albeit at a price — you can’t beat Cortina. It’s a picture-perfect Alpine town, with cobbled streets set amidst the jagged Dolomites and it played host to the Winter Olympics in 1956. Cortina is Italy’s answer to Aspen, St. Moritz and Couchevel 1850 and has more style than all of them combined. The main ski areas are all accessible by shuttle bus and there are lots of long, relatively easy cruising runs. Very good snowmaking substitutes when an erratic winter season strikes, which it does all too often. In a place with many fine on-mountain restaurants, the Rifuigio Pomedes, with its panoramic views and local cuisine, is a fine choice. Hotel de la Poste is an 81-room hostelry that epitomizes Italian style, from tapestries and antique pewter to Tyrolean furniture.

Courmayeur

COURMAYEUR
Courmayeur, which lies in the Aosta Valley not far from the Italian end of the Mont Blanc tunnel, is a medieval market town of considerable charm. It has a car-free center, a good array of shops and restaurants to keep you happy, along with a great view of Mount Blanc. The skiing isn’t bad either, thought its largely an intermediate’s paradise, with short runs. If you’re eager for more challenging pistes, you can go heli skiing or cross into neighboring France, and go to Chamonix and tackle the famous Vallee Blanche run. Courmayeur has long been popular with well-heeled residents of Milan and Turin, many of whom have second homes here. The weekend passeggiata may not rival Cortina’s, but it’s stylish indeed. The Romantik Hotel Villa Novecento is a good choice, located in a renovated mansion in the heart of town.

Madonna di Campiglio

MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO
Madonna Di Campiglio, situated on the shores of a scenic lake in the Brenta Dolomites, is a bustling resort yet also a charming alpine ski village. There are four ski areas around the town, with 49 lifts and 90 miles of trails. The largest area is Groste, which offers the world’s longest gondola ride, about three miles. The runs from the top are long and exhilarating as well. There’s also Spinale, where World Cup races are held, and nearby are Folgarida and Marilleva, for many more miles of trails. Madonna is also one of the best snowboarding resorts in Italy, with a half-pipe, fun park and boardercross. The visitors are chic Italians for the most part, who frequent the stylish shops and restaurants, as well as the four star Cristal Palace Hotel.

Sella Ronda

SELLA RONDA
Not far from Cortina is the vast Sella Ronda area, a circular ski safari that links four villages: Selva di Val Gardena, Corvara, Canazei, and Arabba. The circuit is about 24 miles long, and local ski instructors often challenge each other to do it in one day. But as a visitor, there’s no need to race. Instead, you can linger in the villages, enjoy the steeps in Arraba and head to the Marmolada glacier for more challenges. You’ll hear Ladin spoken in these villages, and the dumplings and Germanic sweets in the shops are reminders that the Austrians held onto this land until 1915. The most enjoyable part of the Sella Ronda is that it gives you a sense of exploration, skiing on a vast network of interconnected slopes amidst the Dolomites. Nightlife tends to be quiet, the pace far slower than nearby Cortina. The Sporthotel Arraba is one of the best choices in the area.

Sestriere

SESTRIERE
Sestriere is the wintry weekend retreat for residents of Turin and was the site of the 2006 winter Olympic Games. The resort has north-west-facing slopes, which gives it the best shot at snow in this corner of Italy. There’s also very good snowmaking, too. There are not only a variety of pistes for skiers of different abilities but Sestriere is part of the Milky Way area, with links to neighboring Sauze d’Oulx and Sansicario. For Americans, Sesetriere would be a great weekend ski escape if you were visiting Turin, because that’s when it comes alive. During the week, it can be sleepy indeed. The Hotel Savoy Edelweiss is arguably the most comfortable four star property in town.

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

It was 1892 when a young employee for the Canadian Pacific Railroad came upon a gem of a lake in the Canadian Rockies that sat beneath a towering glacier. He would write in his journal: “As God is my judge, I never in all my explorations saw such a matchless scene.” Taking his recommendation, Canadian Pacific would build a one-story log cabin that would serve as a hotel for guests who savored the outdoors. By 1912, word spread about this majestic spot in the mountains, enticing more than 50,000 people to reach the shores of Lake Louise. It was time for Canadian Pacific to build a grand chateau with blue roofs and turrets, and furnished with the finest craftsmanship of the Edwardian era.  A place that royalty, heads of state, and celebrities could hobnob in comfort. Today, the 513-room Chateau Lake Louise is run by Fairmont Hotels and is still considered the premiere address in the Canadian Rockies. In winter, the chateau stays open so you can take a horse-drawn sleigh ride over the lake, cross-country ski in shaded forest below the peaks, or downhill ski at one of Canada’s largest ski areas at Lake Louise. Then return to the grand lobby where the fireplace is always roaring to warm you up.

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Ready to get jazzed for the mountains? Here’s the trailer for this year’s Warren Miller film.