By Brian E. Clark
WisBusiness.com

Jane Wiley, an avid skier and scuba diver, left Madison three decades ago, moved to this north central Wisconsin city and never looked back.

She almost immediately found a winter home at Rib Mountain Ski Resort -- now known as Granite Peak -- where she has long been a ski instructor whose focus is on kids.

Her own two children spent countless days on the slopes here before heading off to the University of Colorado where they could, you guessed it, play on bigger mountains.

My family and I met the amiable Wiley -- she was Jane Rusk in Madison and served on the city council representing Nakoma from 1970-73 -- last year during a three-day visit to Granite Peak. With a 700-foot vertical drop and more than 70 runs, it is the biggest and arguably best ski and snowboard resort in Wisconsin.

Wiley -- who is 71 and is affectionately called "Grandma Jane" by her students -- taught my then 6-year-old daughter, Maddie, in a small class last season. She and Maddie became good buddies over two days.

So on a return outing to Granite Peak several weekends ago, we made sure to get Wiley as the teacher for both Maddie and her 5-year-old brother, Anders. They were fortunate to spend nearly three hours with her, having fun while they worked on their wedge and budding parallel turns while their mother and I explored runs away from bunny slope.

We knew they were in exceptionally good hands with Wiley, who has a children's certification from the Professional Ski Instructors of America.

Wiley, who is admittedly biased, said skiers and boarders who once traveled another two hours to resorts near the Wisconsin-Michigan border and even further north to the Upper Peninsula, have little reason to make the drive.

"We have a great hill here and wonderful grooming and are drawing people from as far away as Missouri," said Wiley, who gives owner Charles Skinner kudos for greatly improving the resort since he took over in 1999.

Since then, the resort has added 58 runs, installed five new lifts -- including a high-speed six-pack -- restored the historic 10th Mountain Chalet and built the new Sundance Chalet and Grill, among other improvements.

Skinner also replaced the snowmaking system and in the process essentially created a new ski and snowboard resort.

Next on Skinner's agenda are more runs and a possible slopeside hotel for Granite Peak.

"Our visitors clearly want something like a ski-in, ski-out lodge," said Granite Peak's  Vicki Baumann, who keeps things humming as operations manager. "We hope it happens in the next few years. We'll just have to see."

Though a slopeside lodge would be a great addition, my young family will likely be staying at the Lodge at Cedar Creek for some time because its fun waterpark meets our needs perfectly.

On our annual visits -- which I think will be increasing in frequency -- to Granite Peak, we usually ski in the morning, have lunch in the Sundance Chalet and do a few more runs before returning to the lodge and its Timber Twister slides, Sasquatch tube, Rapid Rock River, Log Jam Pass and other waterpark attractions.

This year, after the kids got a ride on a horse-drawn wagon around the resort grounds, we branched out a bit to take in some of Wausau's culture with a side trip to the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum.

Located in a 1931 English Tudor period Cotswold-style residence on the east side of the city, it has a focus on bird life and features artworks from around the globe. It also has a hands-on area just for children and a variety of changing exhibitions.

Even though there was abundant snow on the ground, we enjoyed walking through the Margaret Woodson Fisher Sculpture Gallery on the museum's four acres of grounds. And the children got a kick out of the huge block of ice that had been carved into a cow and two nursing calves.

If we'd had more time, we might also have visited the Grand Theater, which was renovated to the tune of $13.3 million in 2002, the Marathon County Historical Museum or the Center for Visual Arts.

But I figure that will have to wait for another trip.

For more information on Granite Peak, go to skigranitepeak.com.

For details on the dining, lodging and attractions in the Wausau area, see wausaucvb.com.

And for information on the Lodge at Cedar Creek, go to lodgeatcedarcreek.com.