Uncharted
Winter Adventures
01 Heli-sled to Ice Caves
British Columbia, Canada You’ve heard of heli-skiing? What about heli-sledding? Fly over Winter Olympics-famous Whistler to Canada’s southernmost ice fields for a guided ice-cave tour by snowmobile, snowbike or` snowbuggy. You’ll learn about ice cap research (with portions of your tourism dollars supporting it) as you are led through a labyrinth of blue ice spanning 120-square-miles of glacial fields (all fitness levels welcome).
02 Track Wolves in the Wild
Yellowstone, Wyoming Observe wolves roaming in the wild on a Natural Habitat wolf-tracking safari in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, the best place in the world to see wolf packs roaming in their natural realm. For four days you can track and photograph the elusive animal and other winter wildlife on this wide-open remote valley with local scientists and wolf researchers.
04 Walk With the Polar Bears
Manitoba, Canada
On the remote shores of the Hudson Bay Coast, you can walk with the planet’s largest land carnivores on a Churchill Wild adventure. Following a polar bear migration route, you’ll also see caribou, foxes and, hopefully, a night sky full of dancing aurora borealis. Bundle up to stay comfortable in the -40 degree tundra temps, but walking versus staying inside a vehicle might allow you to make eye contact with the polar bears (or at least watch them from eye level).
03 Ski Uphill
Aspen, Colorado
Avoid chairlift lines for a more humanpowered adventure. While “skinning” has been popular in Europe for years, the practice of uphill skiing is gaining traction at ski resorts across the U.S. You don’t need to head to the backcountry either; ski resorts from Aspen, Colorado, to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, allow skiers to climb up the mountain on special skis and then rip off an adhesive “skin” so they can swish their way back downhill.
05 Watch Penguins Amid Thermal Waters
Deception Island, South Shetland Islands To watch penguins waddling across an Antarctic beach is reason enough to head to this active volcano in the South Shetland archipelago where you can stop on an Aurora Expedition cruise, but you can also see unique relics of the whaling era from the early 20th-century whaling station here. Hidden underneath the black sands are geothermal waters, so by digging a hole on the beach, you can warm your feet for the penguin show.
06 Snorkel Between Two Continents
Silfra, Iceland If you can handle a little cold water over a dry suit, you can drift between North America and Europe. That’s right; Silfra is the only place in the world where you can snorkel or dive between two tectonic plates in Thingvellir National Park. And with pure glacial water, you’ll have unparalleled underwater visibility, making it easy to spot the marine life.
07 Go Distance Ice-skating
Sweden Long-distance or Nordic ice-skating originated in Sweden, where the vast number of frozen lakes, rivers and archipelagos lets you take in the wintery scenery at your preferred pace for miles and miles. Carve your own tracks in the wild safely with a Nature Travels multi-day ice-skating tour with local guides.
08 Walk on Drift Ice
Hokkaido, Japan Shiretoko Peninsula, an UNESCO World Heritage site on Japan’s northernmost island, offers an unusual adventure: walking on Sibieran drift ice. Local fisherman/divers will guide you safely around the ice and invite you to take a dip in the icy water as you stay (relatively) warm in a drysuit. Watch for spotted seals and white-tailed eagles as you listen to the creaking sounds of ice floes pushing against each other or the heart-racing, cracking of ice below your feet.