Places to Vacation in Winter

Sled Dog Wonderland

• Love dogs? Obsessed with sports? You could take a winter vacation that puts the two together. Sky Trekking Alaska offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get personal with the dogs and mushers of the legendary race. Depending on the version you choose, you'll hang out with the racers (both bipedal and furry), visit race kennels, visit checkpoints by skiplane and (of course) ride in a musher's sled. One tour even includes an Eskimo-and-polar-bear studded trek beyond the Arctic Circle. It's not cheap, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a more unique, memorable frolic in the snow.

  Sky Trekking Alaska
  484 Pioneer Drive
  Wasilla, AK 99654
  907-315-6098
  skytrekkingalaska.com

Learn To Snowkite

• If skiing and snowboarding doesn't quite enough "oomph" for you anymore, there's an easy solution: add a kite. Snow kiting taps the power of the wind to inject your snow sports with a jolt of raw power - for instance, speeds of over fifty miles an hour and "big air" jumps like you've never experienced. Utah Kite Addiction offers lessons that utilize Utah's perfect powder, getting you comfortable moving both up- and downhill under the wing (and doing some pretty gnarly tricks, too). Skiing will never be the same.

  Utah Kite Addiction
  P.O. Box 1083
  Eden, UT 84310
  801-391-7481
  utahkiteaddiction.com

Warm and Well-Fed

• If you're not as much of an outdoor-sportsy, snow-loving type as your co-vacationers, there's a solution: Whistler, Canada. You see, while Whistler boasts miles and miles of world-class slopes and enough terrain to occupy a die-hard snow monkey for a year, it has another standout feature. That feature is the Whistler Cooking School, and it's foodie heaven. You'll spend your days cozily tucked away in a state-of-the-art learning kitchen right in the Village, chopping away under the tutelage of Chef Roland Pfaff, Alsace native and owner of the Val d'Isère Restaurant. Both beginner- and advanced-level classes are available, and the school often features appearances by well-known chefs and cookbook authors. If your co-travelers are lucky, you'll have hot soup waiting for them when they lurch back to the hotel.

  Whistler Cooking School
  P.O. Box 1083
  Whistler, BC V0N 1B0
  Canada
  604-902-0020
  whistlercookingschool.com