Churchill Tips & articles

It’s the middle of night, in the middle of nowhere. It’s so dark that you can hold your hand three inches from your face and not see it. The silence is so complete that the low thud of snow falling from a nearby tree makes you jump. Your eyelashes are close to frozen and it’s a struggle to separate them when you blink. And yet you’d happily sit there all night, for many nights to come, for the chance to see nature’s most mysterious sight: the northern lights.

With little light pollution, optimum weather conditions (very cold, with plenty of clear nights) and its position directly beneath the prime-viewing zone of the auroral oval, Churchill in Canada is one of the best places in the world to see the northern lights. The Arctic tundra and boreal forest surrounding the town see over 300 nights of auroral activity each year. Displays might last hours, or be gone in a minute. Flashing neon pink, turquoise and green, the lights swirl across the sky in myriad imagined shapes (is that a walrus, a witch, a whale?) before whipping back on themselves and disappearing. In the presence of such a spectacle, it’s easy to believe local Inuit myth that the aurora borealis are signals from the afterlife, particularly if you hear the sky crackle and swoosh as some claim. What is in no doubt during those moments when the lights whirl above your head is that you’re part of the greatest show on earth.

2. Icebound St Petersburg

January in St Petersburg. The city’s residents, long used to the cold, don fur hats and heavy coats to stand in line. Nowadays, they wait not for bread, but for art: frozen art. Every winter, sculptors transform blocks of ice into elaborate models of people, animals and objects. It’s a tradition that dates back to 1740, when an entire ice palace was constructed to celebrate the birthday of the Empress Anna. Set against a backdrop of golden domes sparkling in the light of the low sun, the exhibit embodies the magic of St Petersburg in winter.

Locals bypass the city’s bridges, slithering over the ice-covered rivers and canals to make their way across town. The Neva River is frozen solid, except for one large hole in front of the Peter Paul Fortress. This is the plunge pool for the Walrus Club, a group of swimmers who exhort the health benefits of a daily dip. When the cold finally seeps in, Petersburgers warm up with a vodka, served in an ice glass, from the ice bar. ‘At least we can do something with all this ice other than slipping and falling on it!’ observes one happy patron.

3. Sweden’s reindeer migration

One of the world’s greatest migrations takes place each year just over a thousand miles north of Britain. As snow thickens on every surface, lakes freeze over and the temperature drops below -25˚C, tens of thousands of reindeer make their way across northern Sweden. Descending from summer pastures in the mountains to the west, the herds travel east to spend the long winter foraging in the forests.

Accompanying them on a journey that can take ten days or more are their seminomadic Sami owners. While herding methods may have modernised over the centuries (snowmobiles – and even helicopters – have replaced snowshoes), reindeer husbandry is still a cornerstone of their culture. To fall in with the Sami and their herds is to be part of a heritage that stretches back millennia – one of days dictated by the pace of the reindeers’ steady trot, and of nights sharing stories round the fire under a chill, star-filled sky.

4. Italy’s sunken bell

Head to Italy’s South Tyrol this winter and you’re likely to come across one of Europe’s most bizarre sights – an apparently amputated church spire poking out from the frozen waters of Lago di Resia. The 14th-century bell tower, pointing like an arrow to the blustery skies above, is a forlorn monument to an entire village drowned beneath the waters of an artificial lake created as part of a hydroelectricity project in the 1950s.

Locals will tell you that the tolling of its church bell can still be heard on a cold night – even though the bell was removed when the valley was flooded. Tall tales may have sprung up around it, but the church and the lake are very much part of local life, particularly in winter. Snow-kiters twirl across the ice, leaping high into the air as their kites catch a gust of wind, keeping an eye out for ice-skaters gliding around the lake’s perimeter. Families slip and slide their way to the base of the tower, eager to slap their gloved hands on a piece of history that’s out of reach most of the year.

5. Yellowstone’s boiling waters

There are few places as beguiling as Yellowstone National Park. It is a landscape created by grinding glaciers and volcanic eruptions, a place of fire and brimstone where the very earth breathes, belches and bubbles like a giant kettle on the boil. Here, in a land roamed by moose, bears and wolves, geysers and hot springs seethe and simmer and finally blow, capturing the imagination as they have done since the park’s inception in 1872. It is America made wild and primaeval.

As the temperature drops and the snow piles high, the park takes on a special drama and grace. The tourist crowds thin, replaced by cross-country skiers silently swooshing along marked trails. Shaggy-coated bison pick their way through the deep snow to warm themselves in geyser basins, waiting for a waft of hot stream from shimmering thermal pools. They retreat a few paces as a hot spring suddenly erupts, sending an arc of boiling water high into the frigid air.

6. Korea’s ice festivals

For much of the year, the sancheoneo – a species of trout – leads a blameless life in the rivers around Hwacheon, a town that lies in the mountains northeast of Seoul. When the cold, dry Korean winter arrives, the rivers freeze over and the sancheoneo disappear under 40cm of ice. And then the trouble starts.

Every January, the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival brings a sudden energy to this quiet corner of the country. Hundreds of thousands of thickly clad visitors swarm over every frozen surface to try their hand at ice-fishing. Barbecues come as naturally to Koreans as baguettes to the French, and the smell of charcoal fires wafts along the banks, ready for the latest catch. For a few visitors, dropping a line through a hole in the ice to catch their fish is just not enough of an experience. Dressed in T-shirts and shorts, they plunge into a pool of near freezing water and learn just what slippery customers trout can be.

7. Snowbound London

Ten o’clock on a Monday morning in central London. No buses steam down Piccadilly, belching passengers at every stop. There are no crowds jostling for space on the pavements of Oxford Street and the doors of its department stores remain locked. The tubes stand empty in their tunnels, planes are grounded at Heathrow. The few people who’ve made it into work in the City turn back when they find their offices closed. This is not the scene from an apocalyptic Day of the Triffids-style film, but the reality of life in the capital on the rare occasion it lies under a thick blanket of snow.

The streets empty and all activity migrates to the parks. On Hampstead Heath, a running club has given up shuffling through the snow and is rolling a giant snowball down to the banks of the pond. In Richmond Park, the resident deer paw at the frozen earth, looking for twigs and shrubs. Far to the east in Greenwich, a borough’s worth of schoolchildren celebrate their unexpected day off by tobogganing down from the Royal Observatory, the distant skyscrapers of Canary Wharf barely visible through the grey murk. Back in the centre, snow falls steadily on a deserted London, bestowing on anyone who ventures onto its streets the unimaginable magic of having a city all to themselves.

Words by: Mara Vorhees, Bradley Mayhew, Amanda Canning and Rory Goulding.

This article originally appeared in  Lonely Planet magazine, on sale now across the UK.

For more great cold-beating suggestions, read Lonely Planet’s articles on winter.

Comments

1. 3 January 2012 12:57PM hsandgren Report this comment

   I went to the Ice Festival in Harbin, China, a couple of year's ago and it would not be out of place on the list. Related to the reindeer migration is the amazing ride in a dog pulled sledge through the arctic winter. Well worth the kilos of extra cloths you are advised to put on. Hakan

2. 4 January 2012 12:00AM danatur Report this comment

   There are beautiful photos. Nature surprises us every day.

3. 4 January 2012 1:10AM miguelreposo Report this comment

   No thanks!! After two of the worst winters in living memory here in Scotland, with sub-zero temperatures and snow blizzards, I'm saving my pennies for my next trip to the hot Moroccan sun.

   Having booked my flight, I'm already counting off the days!..............Miguel.

4. 4 January 2012 1:42AM jeje6948 Report this comment

   Dont come looking for ice and snow to Saint-Petersburg this winter. The temperature hardly reaches zero here but winds are devastating. Morocco's good choice)!

5. 4 January 2012 6:34AM pounamustrategic Report this comment

   I agree with Hakan above, this list is incomplete without the Harbin Snow and Ice Festivals. A church spire poking out of a frozen lake is sort of interesting, but it cannot begin to compare to the winter wonderland of this Northern Chinese city.

6. 4 January 2012 6:34AM mskonfa Report this comment

   I've seen the Northern Lights but from Iceland and Alaska. Also been to Seoul in the wintertime and it feels like its an ice festival :-).

7. 5 January 2012 9:47AM voyageurfred Report this comment

   This is a pitiful article! London England is one of the 7 Snow Wonders??? Give me a break!

   Come to Montreal this winter for the "Festival en Lumiere" for great skating on the frozen harbour, outdoor bands and concerts, hot cinnamon wine, great light shows with outdoor circus acts, plus the all night Nuit Blanche event! February 16-26, 2012. http://www.montrealenlumiere.com/home.aspx

   Then there is the famous Carnaval du Quebec with ice castles, parades featuring gorgeous floats, outdoor ice bars in Vieux Quebec, dangerous boat races across the ice-floe filled St Lawrence River, and of course Bonne Homme - the giant, friendly snow man! January 27th to February 12th http://www.carnaval.qc.ca/en

   Top that London!

   Cheers, Frederic in Montréal - the City of Festivals! http://www.RemarkableImages.ca

8. 5 January 2012 9:57AM ianmclagan Report this comment

   Somebody from Korea must be lining the pockets of the writers at the LP - seems some minor points of interest from the Land of the Morning Clam are always ending up on their lists. The Hwachon festival is interesting but has nothing on the Quebec or Harbin shindigs, the winter Alps or Himalayas, snowmobile trails and villages in eastern Canada, winter hot springs in Japan, man, the list can go on and on....and I've never seen anyone jump in the freezing water in their underwear. Who writes this shyte?

   Don't get me wrong, Korea's a wonderful place to visit, but putting this blip as one of the seven winter wonders? C'mon!

9. 5 January 2012 12:08PM lukenz Report this comment

   I wish someone had told my boss that London shuts down when it snows. At my workplace it's work as normal, and the same for all of my friends too. Sadly, no one that I know is given the day off to play in the snow at Hampstead Heath. The only thing that stops working during the snow is the London underground and rail system. They are officially up and running but you're subjected to signal failures and cancellations, making any trip slower and more miserable than normal. I agree with other people and think that it's insane that Harbin has been left out and London added in.

10. 7 January 2012 10:55AM mrsbellamy Report this comment

    The ice hotel in Kiruna, Sweden is a unique experience!

11. 10 January 2012 5:21PM zeemzee Report this comment

    London? Seriously?!?! The standstill is true IF it snows but do you really want to spend your holiday surrounded by people complaining about the weather and the disruption it causes whilst ignoring practical things such as winter tyres, snow ploughs and generally being prepared for winter. It happens every year, you know! London is like Marmite. And I hate it :(

12. 12 January 2012 12:13AM royalroutes Report this comment

    Korea's freezing river is the nice and seems very unique idea. I went to this place few years ago and it was a marvel experience being there as the frozen river makes no noise the calm and silent surroundings sounds deadly. But the excitement of visitors for fishing makes it very special.

Add a comment