Good suggestion, but maybe shooting too high. Checks off the "in the mountains" part of my fantasy life. But a place that has seminars for grad students and working physicists and has many Nobel laureates who attended as students may be above my intellectual grade.
Close by is Grenoble. You can take the bus from the main station to arrive at the nearest ski stations within 45mins. :)
U of NM maybe? You can go skying just outside of Albuquerque and play golf on the same day.