The laziest, snowiest and most fun winter vacation I’ve ever had — aside from a near miss with a moose — was at Paw’s Up, a ranch resort in western Montana. It has luxury cabins, miles of cross-country trails and its own ice-skating rink. But the downhill ski slopes are about a two-hour drive away, and since Montana itself is a much farther trek than you’re looking for, I turned to Alli Widman, the New York City-based founder of the travel agency Avant Ski, for her closer-to-home recommendations.