Cold comfort: winter trips to take now, from northern lights to festivals
Snowshoeing, snowmobiling and dogsledding are just a few options for the US and Canada, and there are winter festivals in Japan and China
Despite frigid temperatures plaguing some parts of the US, winter does have unique charms, whether it’s getting cosy by a fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate in a mountain inn or heading outdoors to a magical landscape of forests and mountains sparkling with snow.
Here are a few ideas for shaking off the January blahs with a trip in the dead of winter to enjoy festivals, parks, natural phenomena and all kinds of recreation. Just be sure to bundle up.
Natural phenomena
Seeing the northern lights seems to be on everybody’s bucket list these days. There’s no guarantee that nature will cooperate, but spend a few nights in a place like Chena Hot Springs , north of Fairbanks, Alaska, or take a northern lights tour in Iceland , and you may be able to check that one off. Wisconsin is known for magnificent natural ice formations inside caves on the Apostle Islands, but it takes just the right weather conditions for a thick enough layer of ice to form on Lake Superior near the caves so that visitors can walk across the frozen water to get there. Check the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Facebook.
Recreation
Not a skier? Not a problem. There are many ways to enjoy wintry landscapes. Snowshoeing, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing are available in many snowy destinations and can be easier for beginners than downhill skiing. Or try one of the more offbeat snow sports. In some places, you can go snow biking. Others, like Ouray Ice Park in Colorado, offer ice climbing. There’s also skijoring – skiing while pulled by dogs or a horse – and snow-kiting, which is like kite-surfing on skis, with the wind pulling the skier across the ice.
Dogsledding is popular in many wintry places, including Ely, Minnesota. For a truly remote experience, consider a sled dog safari with Tinja Myllykangas in Finland’s Lapland wilderness.
How about Nordic skating? Also called tour skating, it’s ice skating on a frozen trail rather than around a small rink, and it requires a different type of skate – typically a long blade attached to ski boots. It’s popular in Sweden, Finland and elsewhere in Northern Europe, but you can also do it in North America on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa , Canada, and the Lake Morey Ice Skating Trail in Fairlee, Vermont .
Roller coaster fans can also now enjoy winter thrills with mountain coasters – which are gravity-driven roller coasters with dips, waves and loops – at three Colorado resorts: Aspen Snowmass, Steamboat and Copper Mountain. Colorado’s Purgatory Resort also plans to open a mountain coaster this year.
