Lots of us love to ski or snowboard, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Suppose your travel companion is a skier, and you’re not. What can you do while your buddies are on the slopes?

Luckily, lots of Alpine resorts have tuned into the fact that there are many folks searching for alternatives to skiing. A good place to learn what other winter fun is out there is the Web site of the Ski Club of Great Britain. Try clicking on the “resort info” icon, and on the right hand side you’ll see from the drop-down menu an option titled “non-skiers.” If, for example, you’re heading to Kitzbühel, Austria, you will learn this area makes a good option for dining out, shopping and après-ski. Who’s not down with that? Click on the link below to the resort area itself, and you will learn that the town has good options for wellness, snowshoeing trails, a natural ice rink on the Schwarzsee, and a sports park with a climbing wall. Pack accordingly.

Skating:

Wondering if the town you’re heading to has a skating rink? That’s easy enough to find out. Suppose you were planning to head to Stubaital with the Heidelberg ski club on Veterans Day weekend. That’s in Austria, so go to the www.tiscover.at Web site, and execute a search for Stubai. On the left hand side of the screen, under the heading “further information,” choose the option “recreation and sports.”Aha! It looks like the town of Fulpmes offers one, so you might want to get those skates sharpened. If you’re bound for Switzerland, their national tourist Web site is www.myswitzerland.com, and it too is packed with info and easy to navigate.

Sledding:

Tobogganing isn’t just for the kiddies. You can buy yourself a sled and head for any hills where you see others at it, or make an Alpine journey to a groomed piste specifically set aside for that. You can even find long groomed slopes serviced with lifts. Rodeln.com can point you to some of the best courses in Germany; the site also offers links to the specific sledding areas mentioned.

Spa-ing:

It’s not easy to find a comprehensive list of spas, but about.com is a halfway decent starting point to find directories for those in Austria and Switzerland. (Some of these links no longer work, so just try Googling the name of the resorts as they appear here.) Lots of ski resort towns offer at least some kind of swimming pool and sauna facilities. One of my personal favorites? Bad Gastein, Austria. Ah, bliss. I could have been tempted to forgo the skiing entirely! Non-skiers, what are your favorite places for winter fun?