If you’re one of the brave few who
enjoy this hybrid of Nordic and Alpine
skiing, chances are you’ve spent a
fair amount of time hunting for a
resort where your fellow skiers don’t
give you strange looks. At Colorado’s
Crested Butte Mountain Resort, you
can be sure you’ll be surrounded by
plenty of like-minded folks. In fact,
when telemark was in the midst
of a rebirth in the 1970s, Crested
Butte was the delivery room. As the
home of the U.S. Telemark Extreme
Freeskiing Championships, the resort
boasts some of the most challenging
telemark terrain around. But not
everyone who skis here needs to
be a pro, since its wide variety
of terrain allows for seven
levels of difficulty. As pro-
fessional telemark skier
and Crested Butte native
Max Mancini observes, it’s
the kind of place where
tele-heads come on holiday
“
and never leave.”
Tele
Retro
Describes old-school resorts
that allow skiers to pretend
they’re Cary Grant and
Audrey Hepburn in
Charade
’
s
“
When Strangers Meet” scene
(
or, in this instance, “When
Strangers in Gore-Tex Meet”
)
.
It seems odd to go look-
ing for tradition in a place
that’s been open only
four years, but Vermont’s
StoweMountain Lodge
hits all the right notes.
The hotel, which aims
for a Vermont-Alpine
aesthetic, is built out of
local timber and stone.
Its design evokes the
ostentatiously rustic New
England country retreats
favored by Boston
Brahmins a century ago,
albeit with a few contem-
porary twists, while the
floor-to-ceiling windows
offer a constant reminder
of what brought that
old money here in the
first place. Even the
restaurant has a retro feel
to it: Executive chef Josh
Berry (born and raised
in the area) is given to
making dishes like lobster
potpie, a high-end take on
a Yankee staple.
Salami Sandwich
A compound adjective used among snowboarders to describe
food that is poor and overpriced (“I found the salmon
en
croûte
to be somewhat salami sandwich”).
Après-ski dining too o en consists of
burgers the texture of snow boots,
washed down with a flagon
of whatever yellow beer is
closest to hand. A er all, it’s
all about the fuel, right? Not
for Clement Gelas, execu-
tive chef at
Slopes
at the
Waldorf Astoria Park City in
Utah. A French national, Gelas
specializes in “upscale Alpine cui-
sine” (cherrywood-smoked short ribs, cumin-poached wild king salmon),
while the Slopes wine wall can accommodate 2,000 bo les of the good
stuff. There’s also a hot chocolate cart making the rounds, allowing diners
to customize their drink with such ingredients as cardamom and crème
de menthe. And if it’s fuel you’re a er, try the spaghe i-and-meatball
cupcake at the adjacent Crave Café. It’s said to be very filling.
Abbreviation of “telemark,” the
somewhat bewildering form of
skiing that forgoes sharp turns
for maneuvers that require will-
you-marry-me knee-bending.
100
NOVEMBER 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
