Step and glide, dine and recline

FROM the get-go, Devil’s Thumb Ranch didn’t seem like a typical cross-country ski resort. But what was different?

Maybe it was dining on free-range antelope steaks with prickly pear sauce. Or watching puffy clouds skitter across the sky, casting shadows on snowy peaks along the Continental Divide.

But no, here is when I really knew I was Way Out West: Carol, my masseuse at the resort’s new spa, let drop she was a farmer who made her own goat cheese, spun wool from llamas and alpacas and peddled eggs from her own chickens.

“You’re being touched by the hands of the earth,” she said. “They’re grounded.”

Who was I to doubt her?

I had come to Devil’s Thumb, perched more than 8,000 feet up in the Rockies, for a weekend in March. Joining me were my friend Wendy, my nephew Bruce from Denver and his daughter Leslee, 9. The resort, in Tabernash, is a few miles and a world away from the busy ski slopes of Winter Park, Colo., about 90 minutes from Denver.

Bruce, at home on downhill and cross-country skis, wanted to show Leslee a new sport. Wendy, a veteran Nordic skier, was eager to try a new place. With nearly 80 miles of trails to explore, she wouldn’t get bored.

I was making a return visit that allowed me to catch up with changes that co-owners Bob and Suzanne Fanch have made since they bought the property four years ago.

Devil’s Thumb, a former dairy farm, opened as a dude ranch in the 1940s and added cross-country skiing in the 1970s. When the Fanches arrived, it was a quaint resort with a few rustic cabins, a small lodge and a well-regarded gourmet restaurant. Today, it encompasses 4,000 acres. Besides cross-country skiing in winter, it offers hiking, fly-fishing and other activities the rest of the year. New this year are back-country ski tours.

Devil’s Thumb hasn’t entirely lost its Western soul, but it is quaint no more. Under the Fanches, who live in Denver, it’s becoming a deluxe resort.

Bob Fanch, chairman of Conversent Communications, a telecommunications business based in Marlborough, Mass., and wife Suzanne have added 16 spacious spruce cabins as well as a 25,000-square-foot activities center with a ski shop, a spa, an indoor-outdoor swimming pool and a grand events hall.

The resort’s homey Elk Lodge, whose 14 rooms rented for as little as $69 a night last winter, has been moved and now houses employees. In its place, an upscale lodge is rising, scheduled to open in 2007, with fireplaces in each of its 52 rooms.

Meanwhile, guests can stay in six so-called base-area cabins, dating to the 1940s, which start at $170 per night, or the fancy new ones, starting at $285 per night, which sit on a ridge half a mile from the main facilities.

Our two-bedroom Taylor Cabin was in the latter category.

“Come and see the bathtub,” said Leslee, grabbing my hand as I walked in. “You could swim in it.”

Not quite, but it was deep enough for a satisfying soak.

Wendy glanced around and announced, “I love it.”

Who wouldn’t? At 1,075 square feet, the three-room cabin was bigger than my house. Awash in sunlight, it sported vaulted ceilings with clerestory windows in the main room, a big stone fireplace, comfy overstuffed chairs, a sleek kitchen and a private porch with a meadow view.

Thermal heat from the ranch’s hot springs, piped in under wood floors, warmed the space.

The decor paid homage to Dick Taylor, a former Olympic skier who laid out the ranch’s first cross-country trails. Antique snowshoes and a child’s sled were recycled as tabletops. A weathered ski fitted with hooks served as a coat rack.

Above our door hung a plaque that said: “Eat. Sleep. Ski.”

Oh, and get out your wallet. The Taylor Cabin this season costs $420 per night, up from $399 when we were there. We paid only $189 because after we booked a base-area cabin at that price, the ranch decided it needed it for ski racers. So we were moved and upgraded. (I did not identify myself as a journalist to the ranch.)

Other ridge-top cabins rent for up to $790 per night for four bedrooms.

Skiing under the stars

AS lovely as the new cabins are, you’ll miss the point of Devil’s Thumb if you spend much time indoors. Outside, fun awaits.

On our first day, Friday, the fun included digging a snow cave with Leslee, fixing and eating dinner in our cabin and skiing under a starry sky.

Nighttime skiing was a hit with all, including Leslee, who balked at first, nervous about making her first foray into free-heeling.

“I’m not used to doing things in the dark,” she said.

She made us all promise to return by 9 p.m., when the ranch turned off lamps along the 1 1/2 -mile trail that snakes through the cabins and down to the main buildings.

But after her first few steps on skinny skis, Leslee changed her tune. “What if I don’t want to go back at 9?” she asked.

We didn’t.

Egged on by three adults (“Keep your weight down low. Bend your knees. Snowplow.”) and drawing on her alpine experience, Leslee proved to be a quick study, expertly righting herself after a slip or two.

Otherwise, only the scraping of skis over crusty snow and the gurgle of a small stream broke the silence. We saw no other people. Above us, a shovel-full of stars sprinkled the dark sky.

Bruce gave us a short astronomy lesson, pointing out the North Star, the Little Dipper and more obscure constellations. It was magical.

“Can we do this again tomorrow?” Wendy asked.

We did.

We also skied by day, my companions more so than I because I was sidelined Saturday by the headache and nausea of altitude sickness. This condition is not uncommon at the ranch, where you sleep at 8,300 feet and ski up to 9,000 feet, Bob Fanch told me later. I had recovered by the afternoon.

Wendy pronounced the trails top-notch -- scenic, well groomed and accurately rated for difficulty. But she got lost once or twice, confused by signs that lacked arrows or “you-are-here” marks.

All this stepping and gliding really worked up our appetites, which is a wonderful thing to have at Devil’s Thumb Ranch. We tried both the Ranch House Restaurant and the less-expensive saloon; they share a chef, Tricia Cyman, and an admirable wine cellar with about 300 vintages.

At the saloon, which has a more limited menu, we went for comfort food: turkey potpie with mashed potatoes, and a grilled cheese sandwich with French fries. The next night, we tried the restaurant.

The varied menu relied on organic local produce, game and meat from Oakland-based Niman Ranch, “where livestock is humanely treated and never given growth hormones,” resort literature said.

After sharing a wonderful appetizer of baked portabello mushrooms topped by buttery goat cheese, Wendy and I corralled an 8-ounce beef tenderloin with horseradish cream sauce and the aforementioned antelope steaks.

The antelope, served as 2-inch-wide medallions, was a bit bland and a tad tough. But the generous serving of tenderloin was rich and tender. Both medium-rare meats arrived piled atop mounds of mashed potatoes, with an array of vegetables. Our desserts were festive and flawless: berry crisp a la mode and a creamy Old Bailey’s truffee, similar to chocolate mousse, which filled an Irish-coffee glass to the brim.

The service, while generally good, wasn’t flawless. At the saloon, we had to hunt up a hostess to seat us. When I asked for a flight of wines at the restaurant, our waiter curtly replied, “We don’t do flights.”

Oh, well. My glass of 2001 Robert Stemmler Pinot Noir, from California’s Russian River Valley, more than sufficed.

You may feel the need to fortify yourself at dinner if you have to hike, as we did, or ski back to your cabin. A few miles from Devil’s Thumb, the tiny town of Fraser that night registered the coldest temperature in the lower 48 states -- 8 degrees above zero.

Wendy and I were on foot because we had traveled to the Rockies aboard the Ski Train, which made a daily round trip on winter weekends between Denver and Winter Park. From there, Devil’s Thumb ran a free guest shuttle. The rail journey was reasonably priced and scenic. (See box for details.)

But you might want to arrive by car if you have booked one of Devil’s Thumb’s ridge-top cabins. That’s because there was no regular shuttle service between those cabins and the main buildings.

Poetic moment at the spa

THANKFULLY, I didn’t have to rough it at the resort’s spa, where Carol, my down-to-earth masseuse, scrubbed, soaked and anointed me for 90 minutes.

We started with a relaxing, 50-minute Swedish massage, enhanced by cinnamon-eucalyptus oil, a hot herbal neck wrap and a classical music track backed by chirping birds.

For a 25-minute treatment called “Sole Survivor,” I reclined in a specially designed chair, soaking my feet in a mini-whirlpool tub. Carol rubbed my feet with invigorating citrus salts, then touched on some sore points during a reflexology session.

Could my tight upper-back muscles really be linked somehow to my toes? Guess so.

Afterward, Carol treated me to herbal tea and poetry that she had composed, comparing friendship to nature’s beauty.

I practically wafted out of the spa.

Or maybe I should say: I rode into the sunset.

Either phrase will do at Devil’s Thumb, where the Old West and Ralph Lauren chic step and glide in cadence.

*

Have skis, will travel

GETTING THERE:

From LAX, American, United and Frontier have nonstop flights to Denver. Northwest, America West, Delta and Continental have connecting flights (change of plane). Restricted round-trip fares begin at $208.

From Denver you can rent a car to drive to Winter Park, Colo., take a shuttle or ride the Ski Train.

Home James Transportation Services, (800) 359-7503, www.homejamestransportation.com, runs between the Denver airport and Devil’s Thumb Ranch (see below); one-way fare, $49 per person.

Ski Train, (303) 296-4754, www.skitrain.com, runs between downtown Denver and Winter Park on winter weekends; in some months, it runs Thursdays and Fridays too. The two-hour, 15-minute journey traverses 28 mountain tunnels; adult fare, good for a same-day round trip, is $49 per person.

WHERE TO STAY:

Devil’s Thumb Ranch, 3530 County Road 83, P.O. Box 750, Tabernash, CO 80478; (800) 933-4339, www.devilsthumbranch.com. Twenty-two cabins, cross-country ski center, spa, indoor-outdoor swimming pool. Base-area cabins from $170 per night; ridge-top cabins from $285 per night. Ranch House Restaurant & Saloon has a varied menu. Entrees $8-$19 in the saloon, $19.50-$37 in the restaurant.

WHAT TO DO:

Cross-country skiing: Devil’s Thumb Ranch Nordic & Adventure Center. Daily trail passes $10-$15.

Horseback and sleigh rides:

Wild Horse Trails: , P.O. Box 657, Tabernash, CO 80478; (970) 726-1099. Trail rides, from Granby, $32 per person; sleigh rides $20 per adult or $75 with dinner.

Sombrero Stables at Snow Mountain Ranch -- YMCA of the Rockies, 1101 County Road 53, Granby, CO 80446; (970) 887-1999, www.sombrero.com. Trail rides $30 per person; sleigh rides $20 per adult or $48 with dinner.

Dashing Thru the Snow, P.O. Box 1800, Fraser, CO 80442; (888) 384-6773, www.dashingthruthesnow.com. Trail rides $18 per adult.

TO LEARN MORE:

Colorado Tourism Office, 1625 Broadway, Suite 1700, Denver, CO 80202; (800) COLORADO (265-6723), www.colorado.com.

-- Jane Engle