Goldener Hirsch

Spence Eccles stayed at the Goldener Hirsch in 1951: the original, in Salzburg. Four decades later, after skiing Deer Valley with his friend Stein Eriksen, he bought a newly built hotel in Silver Lake Village that already had the same name, and his family has spent the thirty-odd years since filling it with Austrian antiques. Antler chandeliers hang in tiers, and hand-painted wedding cabinets, made to hold a bride's trousseau, have ended up in a ski lodge. The inn is the original: eighteen rooms and suites, arched doorways, wood furniture imported from Austria and paintings from the family's collection. Tom Kundig's practice designed the residences alongside and went the other way, with floor-to-ceiling glass, marble kitchens and a balcony each. On the roof, a heated pool and an infinity-edge hot tub face the peaks, the one view in the place nobody had to import.

Recommended for families who ski, and for anyone glad to hand the skis to someone else: the ski concierge fits them and takes them to the slopes, and a valet and a private locker see to them afterwards. The ski school teaches children as well as adults. Deer Valley is for skiers only, so a snowboarder in the party takes the free shuttle to Park City Mountain. Off the slopes there is dog sledding behind huskies or, with less at stake, a pretzel-making workshop. Dinner at The Hirsch is among hand-carved wood and woodland murals: elk chops crusted in pine nuts, or Wiener schnitzel with lingonberry, and a wine list that leans on Austria, where Spence Eccles first slept under the name.