ESCAPES & ADVENTURES

NEW YEAR’S NORTH SEA DIVE Start 2019 in a bracing way by ringing it in in The Hague until the wee hours and then immersing yourself in the frigid North Sea at the city’s Scheveningen Beach Resort as part of the largest New Year’s Day dive, or Nieuwjaarsduik, in the Netherlands. More than 10,000 people take the celebratory plunge here every year and making sure you’re one of them is one heck of a way to cure your hangover.

POLAR BEAR PHOTO SAFARI Get on-the-ground exposure to the polar bears that gather near Churchill Wild’s Seal River Heritage Lodge in October and November, capturing once-in-a-lifetime shots of the predators as they wait for the sea ice to form and their annual seal hunt to begin. churchillwild.com

HELI-SKIING AT CMH VALEMOUNT LODGE The setting is stupendous, the runs are pristine and the Bell 212 helicopter is practically at your beck and call. If that’s not enough for you and nine other downhill diehards to book your private heli-skiing session at CMH’S Valemount Lodge, a luxury retreat in British Columbia’s Cariboo Mountains, then perhaps you’ll be convinced by the spa and sauna, pool, bouldering wall and on-site chef ( ABOVE). cmhheli.com