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Page 5 of 5
I’m inclined to believe him—especially if 2006 Olympic gold medalist and resident ski pro Julia Mancuso, 23, is carving beautiful turns down the mountain, as she was last week. Mancuso has been stalking Tamarack’s steeps lately, having found her new favorite stateside retreat. “It’s not like Vail or one of those resorts,” Mancuso told me over the phone before a race in St. Moritz, “where you’re right on the freeway, and it’s been there forever, and there are tons of hotels. It’s a small, luxurious escape, with excellent skiing and so much else to do. I’m having a family reunion there this summer—it’s that sort of place.”
The next day, before following in Mancuso’s tracks, I walk the cordoned grounds with a wide-eyed group of prospective buyers who have come from as far as Japan to see the place. Amid all the expected hype, I’m struck by what appears to be a legitimate singularity: There’s no other year-round resort in North America where just a few hundred yards from the central village lies an imposing ski mountain, a premier golf course, and the shores of a pristine lake. Hotel brands are in the business of serving lifestyles, and Andre and Stefanie are creating a brand that’s an extension of a lifestyle they already truly embody.
Watching Agassi, it’s clear: His imposing physique recedes into a ski jacket, a wool hat swallows his shiny pate, those Iranian eyebrows disappear behind goggles, and he’s in boots, with his board in hand, heading for the hill. If not for that unmistakable, tiptoed fast-walk—a vestigial quirk from his playing days, when he’d give his opponents as little time as possible to rest between points, part of his strategy to “take their legs out”—he could be anyone racing to the lifts for fresh snow and blue skies.
The last inevitable question is whether the Fairmont Tamarack will offer tennis courts in addition to its indoor kayaking simulator, bowling alley, movie theater, 20,000-square-foot spa, and access to the award-winning 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Jr. golf course. “Yeah, we’re going to add a tennis component to all this at some point,” Agassi says, shuffling toward the mountain as he speaks. “We’ve got to pay our respects.”
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