During dinner, one of the owner-hosts announces optional evening activities. Bundled like Nanook of the North, I join a small procession following the ski track across a snowy meadow. Basking in the fire's warmth, we gulp mugs of hot chocolate laced with peppermint schnapps. As we kick and glide through the forest, our leader frequently pauses to identify tracks of coyotes, deer, elk and moose that cross our path. The terrain rolls upward, then ends with a quick downhill run.
Experienced skiers find the slope exhilarating.
Skiing and riding aren't the only ways to see the countryside. The ranch also offers sleighing behind two Belgian draft horses. Most of the ranch's 160 horses winter in a snow-covered pasture, and every morning, ranch manager Johnny Fisher feeds them hay delivered on a flatbed sleigh. The equines swarm the sleigh as it enters, hoping to be first to munch their brunch. The kids are participating in the ranch's extensive children's program.