eINGift

Winter Resorts
For Skiers

Photo courtesy of Telluride Ski & Golf Company. Distributed by the Los An les Times Synd.

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Danielle Peleg Gallery

4301 Orchard Lake at Lone Pine, Suite 103
Crosswinds Mall West Bloomfield
Mon. - Sat. 10:30 - 6:00, Sun. 12:00 - 4:00
Tel (810) 626-5810 • Fax (810) 626-5462

Dreidels at the
But family portraits
Chanukah party for Grandma must be
are great fun ...
done!

CHANUKAH PORTRAIT SPECIAL

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(248) 851-6340

12/19
1997

104

Hite Photography Studio
6704 Orchard Lake Rd.
(1st stoplight south of Maple)

Telluride has double-groomed runs — s . mooth on one side and challenging on the
other — so skiers of mismatched levels of expertise can ski together.

SUSAN PRICE
Special to The Jewish News

F

or most people, winter •
means snow and they're not
happy about it. But then
there are those who take
delight in the first snowflake and who
love outdoor winter sports. For them,
new sports equipment, lessons, gear
and ski trips are about the best gift
money can buy.
These days, many winter resorts are
offering spa options as well as ski pack-
ages, and pampering guests in ways the
hardy old ski pioneers could never have
imagined. Here's a round-up of some
of the top winter resort destinations.
Pepi's Wedel Weeks in Vail are com-
munal weeks of skiing and partying
that will remind skiers of the fun they
had with their group of friends in the
old days of school outings and ski
clubs.
That's the atmosphere of Wedel
Weeks — but with five-star style. For
more than a decade, ski legend Pepi
Gramshammer has organized a few of
these weeks each year. Seventy-five per-
cent of the participants are returnees
who come from all over the country.
The average age is around 50, with
some father-son teams, and most of the
skiers are around level 7-8 with some
9s. It's a predominantly male crowd
with a YPO/CEO style, although some
wives and executive women are part of

Susan Price is a writer with the Los
Angeles Times Syndicate.

the mix. The 50-100 people who come
divide up into ski groups of to suit
their level.
Participating sponsors like Bogner,
Bolle, Tecnica and Blizzard provide
great gifts for all. And guests stay at the
cozy Gasthof Gramshammer and other
nearby Vail hotels.
Every group skis with instructors,
evenings are not overly structured with
just a couple of dinners between the
opening cocktail party and the dosing
awards ceremony where the groups put
on silly skits.
Pepi's Wedel Weeks are a great way
for longtime skiers to get together and
continue skiing even when their spous-
es and friends are nonskiers. This year's
dates are Jan. 1-17 and Jan. 17-24. For
information about Wedel Weeks call
(800) 610-PEPI.
Another great Vail option is the Vail
Cascade Club, the only AAA Four
Diamond hotel in this mega-resort, and
the official conditioning site for the
U.S. ski team. The Vail Cascade is the
only ski-in, ski-out hotel in Vail. This is
a large European-style hotel with an
excellent restaurant, a library, panoram-
ic terraces overlooking the mountain, a
lobby lounge bar with a stylish piano
player, private movie theaters, an out-
door pool and concierge service. And
guests can pad back and forth in robes
and slippers to their spa treatments at
the Cascade Club, which is accessible
by an interior passageway.
Telluride is a laid-back town for
people who love to ski, regardless of
whether they're experts willing to hike