For those with extra energy, there is snowshoeing, and for those with less, a horse-drawn sleigh should do the trick. At the ski area, Rossetto's Ristorante serves up good Italian food, and the apres-ski crowd can lounge at Barker Mountain Lodge. For teens, MVP's is a chem-free night club located at the South Ridge Center and the Birthday Barn is just for kids.

Mount Cranmore, in the heart of North Conway, has been attracting skiers from eastern Mass. since Austrian ski pioneer Hannes Schneider sent his disciples there in the mid-'30s. After Schneider himself was ransomed from the Nazis in 1939 and arrived in town to run Cranmore's fledgling ski school, the former farming village was never the same.

Cranmore has its own pub and restaurants, and a thriving nursery. Its health club includes a pool, aerobics programs, sauna and hot tubs, even an indoor climbing wall. A 60 kilometer cross-country ski circuit goes right past the ski area.