At Play in the "Dallas Alps"

Wearing a jaunty red-white-and-blue stocking cap, the big man schussed down the mountain trail and snow-plowed expertly to a stop. His cheeks were ruddy, his eyelashes and thick eyebrows frosted white by the --12DEG cold, and his grin could not have been broader. The skiing, exclaimed Gerald Ford, was "super!"

Day after day last week, the President was out on the slopes high above the winter resort of Vail, Colo. For the most strenuously physical man to occupy the White House since Teddy Roosevelt, the exercise was pure tonic. The setting, however, was slightly incongruous. Vail is an elegant winter resort, the place where John Lindsay, Jackie Onassis, Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford and numerous Kennedys come to play. Carved out of a wilderness twelve years ago, Vail is a high-priced retreat where the apres-ski attractions include continental restaurants, 28 heated pools and smart boutiques for snow bunnies. Vail is sometimes called the "Dallas Alps," a reference to the Texas oilmen who have taken a liking to the place and helped push land values to more than $200,000 an acre. The resort is a world away from Grand Rapids and the square, salt-of-the-earth style that otherwise characterizes the President.

Yet the Fords seem completely at ease among the caviar-and-crepe set. They have been making Vail their vacation home since 1969, and four years ago bought a three-bedroom condominium above the village. Every winter, when Washington turns gray and damp, Ford looks forward impatiently to getting back to the powdery snow and thin, crisp air.

Returning as President this year, however, Ford had to move out of his own place for security reasons. He took a private seven-room Alpine chalet on a culdesac. Going to a strange house, deprived of her own things, Betty Ford remarked a bit wistfully that it was the first time in five years that she had had to remember to pack the Band-Aids.

All four Ford children joined their parents for the holiday. On Christmas Eve, the family went to Vail's Inter-Faith Chapel. Though front-row seats had been reserved for the Fords in the crowded sanctuary, they discreetly declined to disrupt anyone by walking down front. Someone gave Mrs. Ford a rear seat, but the President and Michael, 24, Jack, 22, Steve, 18, and Susan, 17, insisted on standing through the service in the rear of the chapel with others.

Press Complaints. For the gift opening on Christmas morning, Ford wore a new sweater that included in its Scandinavian design the acronym WIN. Sprawling comfortably in the living room beneath a decorated tree that stretched to the ceiling, Ford unwrapped a pair of brass book ends from his wife, and a sweater, a heavy wool shirt, a basket of cheeses, and sausages from his children. The President gave Betty a yellow quilted bathrobe. As the family opened their presents, Ford could see the ski slopes through a picture window, and later he got in a run or two before turning to the work that had followed him to Colorado. As he put it, "Scrooge came with Santa Claus: Rumsfeld came."

The reference was to White House Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, an ardent skier himself, who had toted along a satchel of papers to Vail. Ford was acutely conscious of some press complaints that he should not be schussing downhill while the nation's economy was slipping in the same direction. He also received unseasonal greetings in the form of the latest Gallup poll. The survey reported that because of the economy, only 42% of the American people approved of the way he was handling his job--the lowest rating he has received since taking office.

For as long as six hours every day, Ford knuckled down to work. He received CIA Director William Colby's report on allegations of spying within the U.S. by the CIA. At the President's request, the Administration's top team of economists and energy advisers also flew out to Vail to continue the intensive discussions that have been going on for weeks about how to cure the recession without worsening inflation.

Seasoned Athlete. But when his homework was done, Ford made no secret of his delight in once more escaping to the slopes. At 61, the most celebrated former college football center in the history of the sport is still a man who craves exercise, and he had trained for his annual assault on Vail like the seasoned athlete he is. For two months he patiently followed a diet-and-exercise program prescribed by Dr. William Lukash, the White House physician. He got his weight down from 206 Ibs. to 195 Ibs., and he worked hard to correct his special weakness--his knees. Surgeons have operated on both to remove cartilage damaged during his football wars.

Daily, Ford strapped 50 Ibs. of weights on one leg and raised it 25 times. Then he repeated the exercise with the other leg. He pedaled an Exercycle for 15 minutes and concluded each workout with a routine that would have floored many a younger man: 25 push-ups and 25 situps.

Whenever Ford set out on a run, he was pursued by an entourage of family members, friends, hangers-on and Secret Service agents--selected for their skiing skills--that strung out for hundreds of yards in his wake, as though playing follow-the-leader. "He's fast," approvingly observed one ski instructor who tagged along. "He isn't in the professional class, but he's an advanced intermediate."

For 20 years, the Fords skied together, but Betty had to give up the sport in 1967 because of a back injury. Not having his wife with him on the slopes was one of the few flaws in Ford's week. Still, a good time was had by all. At one point, a local resident told Ford, "We're really proud to have you here in Vail." Replied the President with a grin: "You make me justice of the peace and I'll quit."

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