10 zany winter festivals around the world
— -- When the winter doldrums start to set in, nothing jump-starts your adrenaline like a frozen T-shirt contest, a snow bath, or an outhouse race in a blizzard. We give you 10 over-the-top winter festivals in North America and frozen tundras abroad where you can unleash your inner Jack Frost and get in on some wild and woolly fun.
Fur Rendezvous (Anchorage, Alaska)
February 24 to March 4, 2012
What began in 1935 as a small gathering of area miners and trappers has evolved into an internationally known 10-day festival of weird and wild proportions. The Fur Rondy transforms softball into a winter sport with snowshoes. Outhouses become ski-borne dragsters powered across the finish line by humans. And snowball fights are organized into officially sanctioned Yukigassen tournaments. In downtown Anchorage the streets that have been cleared all winter are filled with snow for the Open World Championship Sled Dog Races and the Running of the Reindeer, a mad Pamplona-style dash with live reindeer at the racers' heels. Putting the fur in Fur Rondy are the fast-talking auctioneers selling furs caught by local modern-day trappers. Insider tip: Stick around for the second weekend of the festival and you'll get to see the start of the Iditarod.
For discounted accommodations and Anchorage-area tours, check the specials at the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau. Alaska Airlines also posts online deals.
Belalp Hexe (Belalp, Valais, Switzerland)
January 7 to 14, 2012
As the legend goes, an old witch who lived in Belalp murdered her husband and was burned at the stake. Every January hundreds of skiers come to town in his honor—or is it hers?—with pointy hats, crooked noses, and wispy broomsticks for Belalp Hexe (Belalp Witch) week and the downhill Witches' Descent race. Though the costumes draw plenty of cackles, the skiing is pretty serious: The challenging 7.5-mile race drops 5,905 feet in altitude from start to finish. It's one of the top races on Switzerland's amateur downhill circuit. The cauldron bubbles late into the evening the last two nights of the festival, Witches' Nights, with live music blaring in venues throughout the city. It's one of the area's largest apres-ski events each winter.
Switzerland Tourism features lodging deals and tips for affordable trips. Search winter vacation packages on Belalp's website.
Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous (Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada)
February 23 to 26, 2012
A throwback to Yukon's Klondike Gold Rush days, the Sourdough Rendezvous celebrates the brawny strength it took to survive here in the early 1900s … and the extra hair required to keep warm at -40 degrees. Things get woolly when a good chunk of the local population puts away razors months in advance to prepare for the beard-growing contest and the women's hairy-leg competition. Watch shaggy guys face off in the axe-throwing contest, the chainsaw chuck, the Swede saw, the log toss, and the flour-packing contest. On stage, the Snow Shoe Shufflers lift their crinolines to reveal long underwear and lightning-fast snowshoe steps. Throughout town, high-kicking can-can dancers swirl their ruffles like their Gold Rush predecessors.
Air Canada and Air North service Whitehorse with direct flights daily from Vancouver. Find hotels, restaurants, and more trip-planning info on the city's website.
Cedarburg Winter Festival (Cedarburg, Wisconsin)
February 4 to 5, 2012
During the dark days of winter, the Cedarburg Winter Festival just north of Milwaukee takes popular summerfest events and slaps them on snow and ice. It's a whole new game teeing off with a tennis ball in a snow-packed fairway during the Ice-Burg Open Golf Tournament. Stop in for a frosty mug at the festival's outdoor snow bar, or try racing a huge beer barrel across the ice without rolling over the competition. If you've never seen a Sleeping Beauty costumed bed race on ice, here's your chance. The contest is hilariously cutthroat. Expect locals to go all out with outrageous costumes for every event at this year's Brothers Grimm-themed festival.
Cedarburg is about a 30-minute drive north of Milwaukee, whose airport ranks as the third-most-affordable major U.S. airport, according to a Cheapflights survey. Search hotel deals at Visit Milwaukee.
Up Helly Aa (Lerwick, the Shetland Islands, Scotland)
January 31, 2012
For the past 100-odd years, gales, sleet, and snow have never stopped the town of Lerwick from setting the night on fire in true Norse style on the last Tuesday of January. It takes 364 days to make Up Helly Aa's elaborate costumes, Viking weaponry, 1,000 fuel-soaked torches, and full-sized longship. But on that one night of the year, Lerwick is like something straight out of an ominous movie set. Blazing torches or axes in hand, 800 seriously bearded and disguised men (guizers) follow the dragon ship past thousands of spectators in a processional through a blacked-out town. The 45 guizer squads sing traditional songs during the march, which culminates with the ritualistic burning of the ship. Then the burly men perform skits and dance routines, and the party goes long past dawn.
NorthLink car ferries run from Aberdeen and other cities to the Shetland Islands. VisitScotland posts the latest deals on lodging, attractions, and activities.
Quebec Winter Carnival (Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
January 27 to February 12, 2012
The perennial heavyweight, Quebec Winter Carnival bills itself as the world's largest winter festival. It's best known for its life-sized ice palace, its snow sculptures, and its snowman mascot, but Winter Carnival has a wild streak, too. In the extreme canoe race, paddlers navigate the frozen St. Lawrence River's snow and ice obstacles. For sports fans, there's a horse derby on snow and a hysterical human-sized foosball game where players are attached to long metal rods in rows of three. The carnival's Caribou cocktail (vodka, brandy, sherry, and port) has a reputation for being feisty, but even that is mild compared to the gumption it takes to scrub down in the snow baths here.
Quebec Winter Carnival's website includes a list of nearby hotels. Check the Quebec City Tourism site for package deals.
Fire and Ice Winter Fest (Lava Hot Springs, Idaho)
February 3 to 5, 2012
It takes locals extra doses of both fire and ice to shake the winter blues in Lava Hot Springs, where average February temps typically hover in the 20s. And this festival, no doubt, is one shocking remedy. On Saturday tubers brave the cold and race down the Portneuf River in the Polar Bear Float, hoping for the fastest time or most-original-costume prize. Sunday morning brings the Running of the Bulls event. Even in blizzards, contestants strip down to bikinis and furry boots or Speedos and flip-flops for the annual Main Street run. They're rewarded with a soak in the town's mineral hot springs at a steamy 112 degrees. The fire comes in with the mountainside torch parade and chili cook-off.
By car, Lava Hot Springs is two-and-a-half hours from Twin Falls, Idaho, and Salt Lake City, Utah. SkyWest Airlines has connecting service to nearby Pocatello. You'll find lodging deals at the Lava Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce.
Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival (Hwacheon, Gangwon-do, South Korea)
January 7 to 29, 2012
South Korea's first area to freeze over is always Hwacheon, where the river's ice reaches a solid 16 inches thick by January—ideal conditions for trout grabbing, the Hwacheon Sancheoneo (Mountain Trout) Ice Festival's most popular pastime. Shouts of joy ring out at random across the crowded ice: "I caught it!" every time a festival-goer reaches into one of the 11,000 ice fishing holes and pulls out a fish bare-handed from the clear, cold waters. Each day of the festival, 32 tons of mountain trout are released beneath the ice for the grab. Still, catching one takes a bit of luck and nimble skill in numbing conditions. If it's a bust, you can sample trout grilled or raw before getting in on a game of ice soccer, Nongmokjangchigi (mini ice hockey), or one of 38 other activities.
Fly into metro Seoul's Incheon International Airport and take a limousine to Chuncheon, then a bus to Hwacheon, a three-hour trip from the airport. Korean Air lists flight deals.
Slush Cup Weekend (Schuss Mountain, Bellaire, Michigan)
March 2 to 4, 2012
When winter starts to drip, Michiganians near the tip of the mitten get silly. Slush Cup, a Schuss Mountain tradition for 30-odd years, peaks with the weekend's main event: racing skis and snowboards across a 40-foot pond while sporting a ridiculous costume. And it's all downhill from there. Competitors rip down the slopes in the snow-shovel race or wrap up in a garbage bag and ride belly-down in the seal sled race. The heated outdoor pool's Fruity-Suity event sees contestants square off in a timed swimsuit-stuffing contest. Whoever exits the pool with the most fruit still tucked in wins.
The closest major city is Traverse City, about 60 minutes away by car. In Bellaire, Shanty Creek Resorts' Slush Cup Weekend packages start at $88 per night and include a one-night stay and a lift ticket to ski or board on any of the resorts' three mountains.
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