"You don't wind up here by accident; you come here for a reason, and that reason is typically the abundant outdoor adventures and natural resources we have," Nathan Miller, the former executive director of the Copper Harbor Trails Club, told Travel + Leisure.
The 2025-26 winter saw extreme weather, with the eastern half experiencing consistent cold and heavy snowfall, while the western half endured record warmth and a lack of snowfall.
Confidence is highest from Sunday afternoon through Monday evening, when the individual models line up best on timing and on a colder snow-level drop. They converge on snow reaching all elevations across Alberta and staying below base at Kicking Horse and Big White.
The recent snow and ice storm turned much of the nation into a winter wonderlandfrom the safety of a nice, cozy sofa indoors. If you step outside in such conditions, however, you'll find a dangerous obstacle course that can turn walking the dog or checking the mailbox into an emergency room visit with just one false step. There's no good clearinghouse for data about injuries related to winter weather, but studies do suggest that fall rates increase with snow and ice, especially among older adults.
There's a particular kind of winter quiet that settles in around January - a soft, heavy stillness that seems to press itself against windows that look out into a muted world of dull skies and bare branches. The idea of stepping outside feels like far more effort than it should. Inside, the air feels warmer, and my home becomes a nest made of cozy blankets, soft lamplight, and familiar corners.
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Packing for a truly freezing destination takes more than tossing a few sweaters into your bag-something I quickly learned in the Arctic Circle during polar night, when "daytime" is pitch-black and the temperatures regularly plunge well below zero. Growing up in New York winters, spending the last few snow seasons in the Rockies, and now logging weeks above the Arctic Circle has taught me one key lesson: staying warm in subzero temps is all about smart layers -not necessarily bulky expedition gear.
There's a glorious smugness that can only be experienced by exercising outdoors in winter conditions. The fresh air, the endorphins, the reduced risk of heart disease they're all nice bonuses, but nothing beats that knowing nod from another rain-drenched runner, or the horrified faces of nearby dog walkers as you stride confidently into the sea for a winter dip.
Having settled on where to ski in Norway, I found myself packing up the Kvikk Lunsj wafers and sweet brown brunost cheese sandwiches at the glassy Juvet Landscape Hotel, deep in the Sunnmøre Alps. Then the slow ascent, with skins on our splitboard skis, up to the peak at Mefjellet: torturous in some ways, looking at all that glinting Care Bear snow all the way up, but also a deliciously tantric act of meditation and delayed gratification.
Tell your peeps to watch for sheep! Share the range with the Tetons' original mountaineers. Bighorn sheep have worked hard to survive the winter at high elevation. By late winter, their fat reserves are running thin and every bit of energy counts. Giving them space will help them make it through the final weeks of winter.
Form-fitting coats, designer goggles, and sleek ski pants were the norm for women, while high-performance brands with a retro bent dominated for men-and that was just the ski gear. After skiing, the après looks were as functional as they were chic, and always with an effortlessly European touch. I grew to love having a wide-banded headband and insulated après-ski boots for drinks on the patio, and a statement puffer vest thrown over my thermals was an easy transition from skiing to sipping.
A week's hiking in Jotunheimen national park (230 miles north of Oslo) last summer brought me tranquillity and peace. During four days of challenging hiking and wild camping through the area we saw hardly anyone else, having entire lush green valleys and still glacial lakes to ourselves. We were fortunate to have stunning weather throughout and, despite it being July, still had a reasonable amount of snow to traverse.
Mt. Baker is the PNW's snow vacuum. It's close enough to the Pacific to get storm after storm, and the North Cascades do what they do best: force moist air straight up, wring it out, and bury everything in sight. Maritime storms roll in wet and heavy, then pile up fast when they hit terrain.
The sport is unique in that it asks for prolonged endurance on the uphill, then explosive strength and stability on the way down. Most gym routines do not train both. This one does. The five exercises Bell recommends are the single leg Romanian deadlift, the standard and multiplanar step up, the renegade row, the deep split squat, and the single leg hip flexor raise with band resistance.
The Bridgeport Winter Trail System is a new winter recreation area in the region. Anyone hoping to explore scenic new routes and possibly take a dip underneath a natural thermal waterfall should add this groomed winter trail to their list.
Located just 15-20 minutes from downtown Banff, the adventure begins at the Gondola Base. Eight passengers at a time ascend 1,650 vertical feet over roughly three miles in about 20 minutes. Along the way are stunning views in every direction. There are three stations along the way - a mid-line directional change, the Goat's Eye offload, and finally the upper village terminal.
When you're touring in the backcountry, you'll want a different kit than what you wear inbounds at the resort. Inbounds, your main goal is to stay warm and comfortable, and you're usually not working nearly as hard as you do on the skin track. Touring generates a lot more heat, so your layering system has to breathe, manage moisture, and still keep you warm when you stop.
Being a snow groomer can be seen as a thankless job at a ski resort; however, it is one of many jobs that must be done and is vital to operations. It involves long nights, being alone in a snowcat, and pushing snow around the mountain for eight or more hours. However, for the right person, it has also been described as one of the best jobs on the mountain.
Cody Cirillo and Matthew Tufts set out to do something that sounds simple until you picture the map, the season, and the wind. In the dead of winter, they bike-packed and skied their way around Iceland on a 1,000-mile, 35-day, human-powered loop. Their new film, A Hundred Words for Wind , released December 18, tracks the whole push, from ice-choked roads and sideways rain to those rare, hard-won windows when the mountains finally opened long enough to climb and ski.
It's no secret that the start of the 2025-26 ski season has been fairly lackluster across much of the American West. Colorado, in particular, has struggled mightily due to a lack of early-season snowfall. As of January 4, few resorts have more than 50% of their terrain open, with some failing to open even a quarter of their trails. Below is a breakdown of the number and percentage of trails currently open at 10 marquee Colorado resorts.
Many of us are riding the high of the recent major snowstorm wondering when the next big powder day will swing through. Unfortunately for most of North America, it looks like the snowy weather won't be returning anytime soon, or at least not for the next week. Meteorologist Chris Tomer 's Mountain Weather Update paints a rather sad picture for snowfall totals in North America between January 29th and February 5th.