I remembered some of the recruits hurling themselves downhill with more courage than technique, falling repeatedly but bouncing up smiling out of Sunlight's cream-cheese snow. Natural charm Even with their great gifts, natural snow areas tend to be unassuming, the skiing matched by a natural charm. All the lift operators wear cowboy hats because they are cowboys. On the Big Mountain at the Hell Roaring Saloon, if you buy one of their baseball caps, you get one free beer per day for the rest of your life. And welcome to the brotherhood of skiers.
Guests read in cozy corners or disappear into armchairs along dark wood walls.
But the late night action still consists of listening to the lonesome train whistles rolling through, east to Minneapolis, west to Seattle. We liked Glenwood's real-town atmosphere and prices. Winter hay fields bristled under white blankets, and sagging log barns nosed to within inches of the road. Squeaky fresh From the deserted ticket line at Sunlight to the soulful old double chair, we scuffled through squeaky real snow. We skied Beaujolais, a long intermediate route off the summit with the kind of rolls and twists one never finds on snowmaking trails.