A wintertime fat-blasting glide: For beautiful scenery, fresh air and a major workout , break out with cross-country skiing - you'll burn up to 800 calories an hour! - Venture Out

Shape, Dec, 2001 by Elaine Glusac

Fall melancholy turns into the winter blahs shortly after Thanksgiving for this Chicago girl. But winter teaches tolerance, the lesson being if you can't banish it, embrace it. Buy good boots, accept hat head and above all don't stay indoors -- the air's too stale. Go cross-country skiing.

For the last several winters, I've cross-country skied in as little as two inches of snow on a local golf course. I made a $100 late-season investment in skis, boots and poles, put one board in front of the other, and was soon gliding along. On flat terrain (the only kind we have in Chicago), Nordic skiing is almost as easy as walking. (For details, see Cross-Country Basics" on page 30.)

But talk about a workout! I got so hooked on the endorphin high and approximately 800-calorie-an-hour burn that I hardly noticed the dirty snow or the din from the nearby freeway.

Birdwinq in winter

Still, I missed the third most compelling reason to Nordic ski: the chance to glide into the still of an untouched winter. For that, I needed deep, snowy woods - the kind you find in Minnesota. Fortunately, I found those and more at Birdwing Spa in Litchfield, Minn. Located 70 miles west of Minneapolis, it was rural enough to deliver the landscape in full winter mantle: snow-shouldering oaks, quiet frozen lakes, the kind of sun-on-white-snow brilliance that makes you tear.

Three hundred acres of wetland and rolling nature reserve cocoon Birdwing Spa from roads. And miles and miles of surrounding farmland shelter it from city sprawl. That accounts for the happy deer habitat, which I first discovered while tracking through the woods along a well-trod deer path. Above me a chandelier of ice-coated branches tinkled in the breeze as I looped around Owl's Nest trail.

After only 30 minutes of kicking and gliding to this natural symphony winter fascinated, not frustrated me. Though a destination spa housed in a cozy country inn, Birdwing in winter behaves more like a cross-country ski resort, offering weekend and overnight packages that enable urban refugees like me to access the property's stellar ski and snowshoe trails. It's also perfect for beginners, offering free gear, lessons and guided treks plus (in the unlikely event you don't like the sport) all the amenities of a spa resort, from treatments and gourmet spa cuisine to a full-service gym where you can take a variety of exercise, nutrition and wellness classes.

I shared the communal dining table during a February weekend in the Tudor-style main house with overnighting couples, a fit set of sisters and a pampering-seeking solo, each free to pursue romance, action and indulgence at the accommodating spa, which provides programs aplenty but never pushes them on guests.

A rosy sunrise over the trees drew me from my cozy sleigh bed in Birdwing's renovated barn for a pre-breakfast ski along hill and dale of groomed trails. At lake's edge I sighted a deer streaking across the ice in the hush of dawn, and considered myself lucky. But when the fit sisters - one of them a quick-study ski novice - and I huffed and puffed after spa director Lisa Hicks-Ewald on a guided trail ski, a herd of 24 deer bounding single file over the lake just 40 feet ahead stopped us, breathless from a combination of aerobics and adventure.

Whatever the skiing didn't make right, Alisha Johnson did. The tiny-but-mighty masseuse kneaded, pummeled and pressed my every knot before mud-packing my back while she massaged the last negative thought from my head. And for a true midwinter indulgence, I signed on for the 60-minute, sole-restoring pedicure, all the more decadent for slipping wool socks and Salomon boots over my lacquered toes.

Between cross-country outings, I also took classes in cooking with soy products, kickboxing and the medicinal uses of herbs. Birdwing's cooks made sure that whatever I burned off skiing stayed off with satisfying, low-fat, low-calorie meals that included an unexpected, wholly welcome brownie.

Day three broke stunningly. So I strapped on the boards one last time to chart virgin territory in the bird sanctuary where I'd earlier spied bright-against-white woodpeckers and finches. Taking the trails at a healthy pace, I rounded the corner on a crop of autumn red sumac when two deer bounded out of their shelter beside me, tufts of snow flying in their wake. Had I one more day, I believe they would have been eating carrots and apples out of my hand.

Details Birdwing Spa packages start at $288 a day, including all meals, accommodations, activities, equipment and two spa services. Call (320) 693-6064 or go to birdwingspa.com.

Elaine Glusac is a Chicago-based free-lance writer.

"Though it's hard to tell, underneath my layers of Gore-Tex and fleece, I'm at my fittest in winter," says Elaine Glusac, author of "A Wintertime Fat-Blasting Glide" on page 28. An avid cross-country skier, Glusac spends her weekends searching out hilly terrain. For this story, she headed to snow-covered Minnesota in the wake of a storm. En route, she discovered that "snow tires are as essential to the sport as becoming accustomed to 'hat head.'" Between ski outings, the Chicago-based free-lancer stays active playing golf. A frequent contributor to Shape, Glusac also writes for National Geographic Traveler and Travel & Leisure.