By Sleigh, Snowshoe and Sled

Take a snowy ride through Colorado ski country, and luxuriate in an alpine ambience unlike any other.

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YOUR SLEIGH IS READY.” The hostess approaches our table as we drop our des - sert forks with a satiated sigh. We’ve just finished a five-course gourmet dinner at Beano’s Cabin, a finedining restaurant atop Colorado’s Beaver Creek Mountain. More regal than rustic, the eatery (named after Frank Bienkowsi, one of the valley’s original homesteaders) draws steady crowds, who come as much for the award-winning, Colorado-inspired cuisine as they do for the adventure of getting here. Our ride to and from Beano’s is an open-air sleigh, which, in these winter months, is pulled by a massive snowcat, a truck-size plow used to groom Beav - er Creek Resort’s expansive network of snow runs and trails.

As we make the 20-minute trip down the mountain in single-digit temperatures, the snowcat claws its way through the clear, starry night, rustling the branches of lowhanging evergreen pines and shaking a light dusting of snow on bundled-up, rosycheeked passengers. Our guide points out large “cabins” just off our path, which are being bought up for a cool $6 million (Ste - ven Spielberg is rumored to own here). Back at the bottom, we make haste to our room at the Beaver Creek Lodge. An allsuites boutique lodge (there are 72 rooms), it’s at the center of the European-type ski resort Beaver Creek Village and a short walk to ski runs, high-end shopping and plenty of dining options. A member of the Kess ler Luxury Hotel Collection of four- and five-diamond properties around the world, the lodge reflects an appreciation for fine art——it has its own gal lery ——and fine details (love the elevator’s red leather interior).

Highlights of each suite’s mountainchic décor include granite countertops, leather and wood accents and commissioned artwork by French artist Jean Claude Roy. We prop up our feet in front of our living-room fireplace to dry out our socks, and check the evening weather forecast on the flat-screen television (more snow). A knock at the door announces the arrival of complimentary steaming mugs of hot chocolate and just-from-the-oven cookies.

Since opening in 1980, the resort has steadily built its reputation as a worldclass destination for skiers. (Beaver Creek is the only mountain in North America to regularly host the World Cup.) But I’m eager to test the terrain atop snowshoes, not skis, and Beaver Creek instructor Nick Fickling is an enthusiastic guide. Britain-born Fick ling has a kind smile, electric-blue eyes and a snowsuit to match. He surveys each person’s boot and snowshoe setup before leading our group to the chair lift. Up at the Nordic Center, he helps us into our gear——some of us newbies are happily introduced to the modern marvel of instant hand and toe warmers——and leads us onto freshly groomed trails designated for crosscountry skiers and snowshoers.

During the nearly two-hour trek, Fickling betrays his giddy fascination with the land, dishing up trivia about the native flora and fauna. We stop to gaze at fresh animal tracks in the snow and hypothesize about the hunter——and the hunted.

We pluck needles off a pine tree and rub them between our mittened fingers to reveal the heady aroma; we marvel at the surrounding maze of aspen trees and their unique, eye-like markings, believed by Native Americans to represent the protective gaze of ancestors.

As we come off the mountain, the aroma of chocolate-chip cookies permeates the alpine air. Each day at 3 p.m., Beaver Creek employees armed with trays of freshly baked cookies offer skiers, snowboarders and snowshoers a snack break, or in my case, a sweet sendoff from an afternoon on the mountain. An early dinner in Rocks Modern Grill inside the Beaver Creek Lodge provides an even tastier experience of cu - linary offerings unique to the Rockies setting. Chef Aaron Bennett whips up favorites like the Kobe beef meatloaf and lavender-thyme-rubbed rack of Colorado lamb. Another dish you won’t find in points west: his Colorado bison chili.

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