Click image for enlargement. Illustration by David Stroud. To beat the heat, Las Vegans in varying degrees of dress enjoy skating in the Fiesta Rancho's ice arena, where the temperature is kept at 60 degrees. Photo by Samantha Clemens. Spa manager Arzu Delp takes a dip in the cold plunge at the JW Marriot Las Vegas Resort's Aquae Sulis Spa. The cold plunge is a pleasant shock that contrasts with the facility's other pools of heated water. Photo by Jane Kalinowsky. Senior citizens from the McFarlane Apartments enjoy lunch at a Mount Charleston picnic area in mid-July. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Riders enjoy the Sling Shot at the Adventuredome at Circus Circus in May 2004. Photo by Craig L. Moran. The indoor Las Vegas Municipal Swimming Pool features a grassy outdoor patio. Photo by Samantha Clemens.

When the desert heat reaches inferno levels, it's time to head for a cooler clime.

Folks on a tight budget have mundane choices: Go to frozen-foods aisle of supermarket and flap or slide a few doors on the freezer case to create a cool breeze. Or, spend time in the walk-in cooler of a restaurant or cafeteria.

But to cool one's heels -- and the rest of one's physical personhood -- in style, here are five recreational options for Southern Nevadans. The cost varies, as does the target audience, for each beat-the-heat strategy.

ICE SKATING

Hankering for a frost? Enjoy the 60-degree ambient-air temperature at the ice arena at the Fiesta Rancho, 2400 N. Rancho Drive. If you fall, you will come into contact with ice that is maintained at an even chillier 20 to 22 degrees, according to Rob Pallin, arena manager.

"Lately it's been absolutely crazy," Pallin says, meaning heavy use of the rink. He attributes it both to the rink's central location in the Las Vegas Valley and, mainly, to the extreme summer heat. "It's a great way to cool off."

Public skate sessions are from 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays, 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays. Normally, the arena charges $6 admission, with a $2.50 additional charge to rent skates. But the $5 Sunday special covers admission and rental.

On Friday and Saturday evenings, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., the arena has disco skate, a public session presided over by a DJ, with the ordinary admission and rental charges. "It's like their high-school dance," says Pallin, referring to the event's popularity with teens.

MOUNT CHARLESTON

If you're in Las Vegas and want to drop a stunning 20 degrees in outdoor temperature, head for the hills -- to the Spring Mountains northwest of Las Vegas. When Las Vegas is recording temps of 110 degrees, it's common for the thermometer at Mount Charleston to read 90.

Mount Charleston is classified as an alpine area of Nevada's Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest. Chipmunks, woodpeckers, Ponderosa pine, juniper and aspen trees are a natural part of the scenery. The mountain is a welcome diversion from the dusty, rocky desert surrounding urban Las Vegas.

Hiking options range from the moderate Robber's Roost Trail, a loop that takes 20 minutes, to the strenuous Griffith Peak Trail, a 10-mile round trip that takes about eight hours to hike. The Cathedral Rock picnic area and trail is not yet entirely restored from avalanche damage from this past winter.

City slickers visiting the mountain also have several sit-down restaurants to choose from. The Mount Charleston Lodge, 1200 Old Park Road, is located at 7,717 feet in elevation. It offers indoor and outdoor deck dining. It also has log cabins for overnight stays.

The Mount Charleston Hotel, 2 Kyle Canyon Road, is at about 6,500 feet, and offers rooms and suites. Its dining options include an all-day cafe as well as dining room that serves three meals a day. It also has a lounge.

SPA

A cold plunge is a sure-fire way to rev the heart, stimulate the senses and literally shed some body heat in an instant. You can take this plunge at the Aquae Sulis Spa at the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort, Spa and Golf, 221 N. Rampart Blvd.

In both the men's and women's sides of the indoor spa, a calming hot plunge and energizing cold plunge are available. Clothing is optional inside the spa.

The spa's outdoor portion, which is co-ed and requires clothing, features garden waterfalls around the so-called hydro-circuit pool. The pool is a series of water chambers, each with different jet settings and water currents, intended to reach and stimulate different muscle groups of the body.

A one-day pass to the spa -- which is open from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. -- costs $35 for a local. If a person books any spa treatment costing $65 or more, he or she also receives a full-day spa pass for that day. The spa also has a Jacuzzi, steam room and dry sauna facilities, a workout room and a range of classes in such activities as stationery cycling, Pilates and yoga. Mondays through Thursdays, locals receive a 15-percent discount on spa treatments or beauty salon services.

SHADED SWIMMING

Water play is a fun way to trick the mind into feeling cooler, since swimming is actually a form of exercise that generates body heat. But here's an even greater paradox: At select locations in Southern Nevada, it is possible to swim in the open air without swimming in the sun.

To solve this apparent enigma, visit any of these three indoor swimming pools. All have walls that can be opened in summer, allowing the fresh outdoor air to filter in but still providing shade from the overhead sun.

The Las Vegas Municipal Pool, 431 E. Bonanza Road, has a wall of windows that partially retract. Swimmers can move freely between the indoor pool and the outdoor patio. "You can enjoy the sun if you want. You get the fresh air. But it does give you protection from the sun. We have quite a few folks whose preference is to swim at Muni for that reason," says Mary Killion, field supervisor for the Las Vegas Department of Leisure Services. Admission to an open-swim session is $1 per child, $2 per adult.

Henderson's Multigenerational Aquatics Complex, 250 S. Green Valley Parkway, has an indoor lap pool and spa. That space has glass doors on two walls, which are kept open during summer. It costs $2 per adult ($1 for children and seniors) to swim laps, in either that indoor pool or the facility's outdoor lap pool.

Swimmers pay a different admission ($3 for adult and $2 for children or seniors) to use the Multigen outdoor activity pool, which is mostly shallow and has a slide and built-in play equipment. An outdoor swimmer can pay $1 more to also gain access to the outdoor lap pool, but not the indoor lap pool.

Henderson's Whitney Ranch Aquatics Complex, 1575 Galleria Drive, has an indoor pool with sections for both lap swimming and open swim. It has some removable walls and a ceiling that partly retracts, which during summer brings the fresh air in. Indoor admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children or seniors. Admission to its outdoor activity pool is $3 and $2, for the respective age groups.

A fourth pool, the county's Desert Breeze Aquatic Center, 8275 W. Spring Mountain Road, has both indoor and outdoor pools. The indoor pool does not open out onto the open-air pool area. But a swimmer who pays the outdoor admission price ($3 per adult, $2 per youth) can use both facilities. To use the indoor pool only, the charge is lower ($2 per adult, $1 per youth).

INDOOR AMUSEMENT PARK

For the indoor park with the most variety, we recommend the Adventuredome at Circus Circus. It goes from low-tech miniature golf or trampoline to conventional carousels to motion simulation rides to electronic tag to bona fide roller coasters.

True, you don't get the height or length of a coaster at a traditional outdoor park. On the other hand, by "doing the Dome" you avoid the long drive to Southern California, with its many amusement parks. At the "Dome," you also avoid the triple-digit heat and ultraviolet exposure associated with riding one of the outdoor coasters on the Las Vegas Strip in summer. (The New York-New York, Sahara and Stratosphere hotels all offer such rides.)

The air-conditioned Adventuredome is open from 10 a.m. to midnight daily through the end of August. A one-day pass costs $22.95. For juniors which the park defines as children under 48 inches in height -- a one-day pass costs $14.95.

Or, visitors can pay separately for each ride. The most expensive rides -- which includes the water chute, Sling Shot tower ride, laser tag, motion ride, miniature golf and a short coaster that does a 360-degree loop-de-loop -- cost $6 each. Most other rides cost $4 apiece.