Nightclubs: Summer Camp

What do you do with ski resorts in midsummer? Most owners shut them up and join their friends at the seashore. But Alec Gushing, the imaginative impresario of Squaw Valley, hates to do things the conventional way. Three weeks ago he opened what he billed as "the world's highest nightclub"-at the top end of his wintertime ski lift.

Appropriately, he dubbed it High Camp. Nestled on a plateau just under 8,960-ft. Squaw Peak, the cabaret commands a heady view of the still snow-blotched peak above and Lake Tahoe below. Just getting there is half the fun. On the valley floor, couples are guided into four-seater gondolas by an attendant. After skimming through a notch in a granite cliff and floating over forests of white pine and ponderosa, they bump to a stop amidst the sound of music echoing about the uppermost peaks.

By day, High Camp resembles a Bavarian beer garden. On a large patio lined with flapping flags and dotted with tables shaded by orange umbrellas, customers eat inexpensive sandwiches (an overstuffed club sandwich costs $1.50) while the Eidelweiss Duo, decked out in Alpine costumes and playing accordions, punctuate their German and Austrian songs with an occasional yodel. As the sun goes down, people move indoors, and High Camp begins to resemble a cross between a sophisticated coffeehouse and a stylish supper club. At 7 p.m., Gushing kicks off the evening's entertainment with an oldtime movie, ranging from the ragged but worthy (Maltese Falcon) to the strictly high camp (Tarzan and the Ape Man).

When the movie ends, live entertainment takes over. Usually the headliners are subluminaries. Explains the club's poster: "Those looking for Milton Berle, Frank Sinatra, or Andy Williams, please repair to Reno." A bossa nova group called Brazil '65 and Jazz Pianist Joey Bushkin have been doing the opening honors. Couples, both invigorated and intoxicated by the rarefied air, shuffle about the floor in Pucci gowns, Marimekko shifts and madras jackets. For those who do not mind the cold (a windy 50°), there is dancing outdoors in a setting of spotlighted pines and crags. Refreshed by a late theater supper of shrimp Creole or beef stroganoff, customers spin on until 1 a.m., when the gondolas take them on a quick, sobering ride back to earth.