8 Awesome Après Ski Spots
Beaver Creek Village (Avon, Colo.)
Overlooking the Rockies, the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek's 8100 Mountainside Bar & Grill offers an alfresco respite with its outdoor dining area complete with fire pits and a menu of local, organic dishes paired with Colorado's best microbrews.Diners can choose to roast their own marshmallows during the nightly s'mores happy hour. The best time to visit the ski-in, ski-out resort is during the Beaver Creek Food & Wine Weekend Jan. 24 to 27, which includes interactive cooking demonstrations and wine pairing dinners like Après-Ski Burgers & Beers with Texas grill master Tim Love and Top Chef alum Spike Mendelsohn and Après-Ski Wine Down, a wine tasting hosted by wine expert Anthony Giglio.
Sugar Bowl (Norden, Calif.)
Less than an hour's drive from Reno, Nev., Sugar Bowl has been locally owned and operated since 1939.The only way in or out is by gondola or snowcat and skiers are treated to their own private back-country clam bake post-ski.
Montage Deer Valley (Park City, Utah)
Montage Deer Valley atop the Empire Pass offers seven après ski options, including APEX restaurant with a menu that highlights the produce of Utah farmers, purveyors, and foragers, beer brewed by Park City's Wasatch Brew Pub, and whiskey from Park City's High West Distillery; a fire pit where four types of marshmallows can be roasted daily; and a Ski-Up Bratwurst & Beer located directly on the slopes.
Canadian Rockies (Banff, Canada)
With heaps of powder and terrain suitable for all levels, The Fairmont Banff Springs is a great resort for couples and families alike. As with other Fairmont resorts, The Fairmont Banff Springs offers their Lifestyle Cuisine Plus program, which provides nutritious meals for guests with specific dietary requirements such as diabetes, heart disease, and gluten-free, macrobiotic, raw, and vegan diets. The newly renovated Waldhaus Restaurant, situated in the on-property forest, serves Swiss and German specialties like fondue.
Bernese Alps (Gstaad, Switzerland)
With more than 155 miles of alpine slopes, Alpina Gstaad opened this month. The $337 million Swiss resort has three restaurants helmed by Marcus Lindner, the award-winning executive chef of 18-Gault Millau-point and two-Michelin-starred Mesa in Zurich. The resort has the first European outpost of Japanese restaurant MEGU and a traditional Swiss stübli. Other après ski options include a full Swiss buffet and dinner at Le Grand restaurant.
Colorado Rockies (Vail, Colo.)
Perched along Vail's famous slopes, a 7-mile stretch of the Colorado Rockies that boasts 193 alpine trails and a Tyrolean-style village is home to the Four Seasons Resort Vail,whose après ski Fireside Lounge is one of the best places to unwind after a day of skiing. Lit by fire pits, the Fireside Lounge features food, drinks, and musical entertainment beginning at 3 p.m. daily. Signature items include the TJW ("That's Just Wrong") Dog (a Kobe hot dog wrapped in house-cured bacon with Buena Vista bleu cheese slaw, and house-smoked tomato ketchup).
Mount Bachelor (Bend, Ore.)
Ranked as one of the top golf resorts in U.S., Pronghorn moonlights as one of Central Oregon's best stays for skiers looking to tackle Mount Bachelor, North America's fifth-largest ski resort. After a day of skiing, families can treat themselves to hot chocolate and cookies in the Clubhouse.
Dolomites (Northeastern Italy)
For those who don't want to ski in just one locale, ItaliaOutdoors Food and Wine offers a weeklong culinary ski and snowboarding vacation in the snow-capped Trentino-Alto Adige region in Northwestern Italy. Winter sports enthusiasts can ski and snowboard during the day and immerse themselves in the cuisine and culture of South Tryol at night. At the end of each day, participants are introduced to locally produced wines from the regions of Trentino and Alto Adige, including schiava, lagrein, and vino santo, while dinners are enjoyed in charming osterias. The small-group tours are led by ski and snowboard instructor and mountain guide Vernon McClure, and PSIA-certified ski instructor, cooking instructor, and chef Kathy Bechtel. Together, they offer two decades of experience in the region. The six-night trip is offered March 10 to 16, 2013 and March 17 to 23, 2013 and is $3,995 per person, based on double-occupancy. Trips include accommodations, guided ski tours, meals, daily wine tastings, and activities.