Ice-fishing: Montreal
The ice that covers Lac-à-l’Eau-Claire in Canada’s Quebec province is thick enough to drive a car over, and the auger seems to labour as it bores through, corkscrew-style. Finally, there’s a surge of frigid water and you’re granted a saucer-sized hole through which to drop your line.
The surface of the lake isn’t exactly flat. The wind has blown the fine snow that covers it into low, flat peaks and shallow craters, almost like a miniature moonscape, while, in the distance, the mountains of the Laurentian Shield rise blue-hued in the low northern light.
Ice-fishing is a popular activity among the Quebecois. Most of them fish from tiny, coloured huts that are dragged by truck or snowmobile on to the ice when winter sets in. Through the snow-covered months, these little villages become hubs of sport, laughter and drinking among friends. The winter is the perfect time for fishing, the enthusiasts insist, when they catch the best-tasting specimens – and there are no mosquitoes.
Lac-à-l’Eau-Claire is home to rainbow, brook and lake trout as well as smallmouth bass and Arctic char. Locals have been fishing here for centuries; as far back as the mid-1600s, the Abenaki tribe depended on these waters for food. In the 21st century, however, the natural stocks are given a little help. Each year, 150,000 trout are released into the lake, making this one of Quebec’s premier fishing destinations.
Now you can take your place among them. On the western shore of the lake at Saint-Alexis-des-Monts, the Lac-à-l’Eau-Claire Inn is fully set up for fishing fanatics in both winter and summer. It rents equipment, and even has a designated fish-cleaning room.
And should the joys of sitting jigging on the ice wear thin, the auberge also offers dog-sledging, snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing and ice-skating.
Go Fishing Worldwide (+44 (0)20 8742 1556, gofishingworldwide.co.uk) offers a three-night package to Lac-à-l’Eau-Claire including ice-fishing, dog-sledging and snow-shoeing, and full use of the resort’s facilities. Ice-fishing is offered until the end of March.
Snow-shoeing: Bosnia
The mountain villages of Bjelašnica, close to Sarajevo, were decimated during the war in the 1990s and the people forced to flee. But now with more than a decade of peace behind them, the villagers are returning, houses are being rebuilt, and they’re opening their doors to tourists.
A former American aid worker, Tim Clancy, runs snow-shoeing tours between these highland villages through his eco-tourism company, Green Visions (greenvisions.ba). He takes his clients to Umoljani – where every building except the mosque was destroyed during the war. Rumour has it that the cleric once cured the Serbian commander’s son and so the troops were instructed to spare the building – and Lukomir, an isolated village where shepherds live as they have for centuries.
The snow-shoes you’ll wear on this trip aren’t the great wooden rackets donned by Shackleton. They’re modern, blue-plastic contraptions and novices find their feet in minutes as they trek up a steep wooded path before reaching a wide vista of rolling white hills and valleys where skinny streams of water trickle.
When you arrive at the village of your destination, local women will regale you with handmade souvenirs: colourful woollen socks, bags, gloves and embroidered scarves. If you’re staying the night – Green Visions runs both day- and two-day trips – they’ll bring home-cooked soup, freshly baked bread that’s doughy and flavoursome, and great trays of spinach, egg and potato pie to your quarters either in the villagers’ homes in Lukomir, or in a specially built mountain hut in Umoljani.
The snow usually lasts until the end of March; in summer, the company guides hiking trips through the same area.
BA flies from London Gatwick to Sarajevo. Visit ba.com. Snow-shoe trips start from €50 (£35) for a day trip or €130 (£92) for two days, for a group of five people or more. This includes transportation to and from Sarajevo, snow-shoes, poles and gaiters, meals, an English-speaking guide and accommodation for the overnight trip.
Cross-country skiing: Scandinavia
When the snow is melting in the Alps, the weather’s perfect for cross-country skiing in Scandinavia. At this time of year, daylight stretches week upon week while at night you’ll still see the Northern Lights weave across the skies. There’s no queuing for lifts or sharing the piste with hundreds of others. Instead you glide across treeless Arctic hills and through silent, snow-laden forests where reindeer are more plentiful than humans. It’s not all white out there: the skies turn from pink to purple to blue, and the low buttery sun casts shadows of inky indigo on the snow. If you need a break from skiing, most resorts also offer dog-sledging, snowmobiling and sleigh trips, too.
In Norway, the area around Lillehammer is dotted with hundreds of frozen lakes and ski trails, while the Rondane National Park, home to the country’s last purely wild reindeer herd, features routes like the 170km Troll Trail, a multi-day trip through spectacular scenery staying in tiny guest houses and cabins along the way.
There are tens of thousands of kilometres of marked and maintained ski trails in Finland, with trips both for families and experienced adrenaline junkies – and use of the ski trails is free. Most of the accommodation is in log cabins with their own saunas. The top resorts for cross-country skiing are Ylläs, Saariselkä and Vuokatti.
Twenty minutes from the ski resort of Saariselkä is the village of Kakslauttanen. Here, 20 glass igloos provide ingenious accommodation – you can view the Northern Lights while still tucked up in bed. There are also cosy log cabins each with a sauna, and an ice room with polar sleeping bags. From Kakslauttanen, you can hire skis or snow shoes to explore marked, lit trails in the surrounding area. There are snowmobile safaris, reindeer safaris, husky safaris and ice-driving, too.
The Scandinavian cross-country ski season lasts through the end of March in all areas, and into April and May in Lapland.
