With the recent snowfall, it appears that winter is finally with us. Many Manitobans fear winter, and why shouldn’t they? It’s ridiculously cold here! But cold aside, we must learn to embrace winter and have some fun while keeping active at the same time. Winter can be extremely long if one never leaves the comfort of the living room. We need to get outside every now and then for some fresh air and exercise. Let’s take a quick look at some of the winter activities that many of our club members actively take part in.
Cross Country Skiing
For more information on cross country skiing in Manitoba check out the Cross Country Ski Association of Manitoba (CCSAM). Trust me you will want to bookmark their website as it’s full of all kinds of useful information, including maps, trail locations and conditions. CCSAM also organizes training and competition.
Do you need to rent or perhaps buy skis? Check out our Local Outdoor Retailers page for a listing of local shops in Winnipeg.
Downhill Skiing & Snowboarding
Downhill skiing in the prairies? Have you lost your mind? Nope, not at all. Believe it or not there are plenty of places in Manitoba to get your downhill skiing or snowboarding fix. Granted it’s not the same as the Rockies, we still have some really great areas here to keep your legs fresh until that next road trip out west.
Here are Manitoba’s ski and snowboard areas:
Asessippi: Manitoba’s newest ski resort. Located near Russell. Well worth the drive, but definitely not a day trip from Winnipeg.
Falcon Trails Resort: Year round outdoor adventure at the eastern end of Falcon Lake, Manitoba. Downhill and cross country ski trails.
Holiday Mountain Resort: Manitoba’s most popular ski resort. Located in La Riviere.
Mystery Mountain Winter Park: Located in Northern Manitoba just outside Thompson.
Springhill Winter Sports Park: Ski and snowboard park located just minutes from downtown Winnipeg.
Stony Mountain: Known as Manitoba’s snowboarding capital but the skiing is great too. Located 10 miles north of Winnipeg.
Okay and here’s one more bonus area: Frost Fire Ski & Snowboard Area. Although technically not in Manitoba, Frost Fire is located just across the U.S. border in Walhalla, North Dakota. It’s close enough and many Manitobans make a day trip down.
Ice Climbing
The ice tower offers a variety of ice climbing in varying degrees of difficulty. The tower is open on weekends from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (weather permitting). The climbing season usually starts at the end of December and lasts to the end of March. If you get cold, or have a bad case of the screaming barfies, feel free to warm up inside the club’s trailer. Don’t have your own gear but still want to try ice climbing? No problem. Just show up dressed in appropriate warm gear as the club has a limited amount of ice climbing equipment available to use on a share basis. If you already have your own climbing harness and helmet feel free to bring those along too.
If you don’t feel like driving anywhere to ice climb, or you want to spend more time training for bigger climbs, do what I did and build your own ice tower.
Now you may have noticed that we tend to ice climb on mostly man-made structures here in Manitoba. While there are some natural ice climbs out there, they are few and far between. We are always on the lookout for new areas to ice climb. If you know of any cliffs in Manitoba or Northwest Ontario where ice forms, send us a message. We’d love to come climb it!
Indoor Climbing
The Rock (YFC Winnipeg)
Oh and don’t forget! Every Wednesday is the Manitoba Section Climbing Night at Vertical Adventures. Climb all night for only $5!
These are just some of the many winter activities found here in Manitoba. Do you have some other winter activities that you enjoy? Leave a comment below.