When it starts to get cold, folks in Vermont are gearing up for a season of outdoor sports (perhaps more accurately, we didn’t stop once summer ended). Skiing & snowboarding receive a whole lot of attention, including in this earlier DigIn blog post. But they're just one small part of the winter sports landscape here. Last month on Vermont Edition, Vermont Public Radio considered all the many options for playing outdoors in Vermont this winter.
Here’s a quick look at some options beyond skiing:
- Ice Fishing is popular not just with fishermen, but also some chefs as this Stuck in Vermont story from Seven Days explains.
- Skating is both a familiar favorite and also something new, as Nordic Skating has grown in popularity over the last decade. Here’s a short clip from Vermont Public Television on what Nordic Skating is, and a 2014 story on the Nordic Skating track in Fairlee, Vermont.
- Hiking doesn’t stop for snow. The Green Mountain Club is a great source of hiking guides and safety tips year-round, including this recent post on winter hiking preparedness.
- If you’re looking for a very vertical route up a mountain, there’s always ice climbing. This Burlington Free Press story from 2014 gives a quick intro to the local enthusiasm for this sport.
- If you want to take a walk through the snowy landscape, and maybe don’t need to scale a mountain, consider all of the many snowshoe trails (both mountainous and flat) around the state. Here is one magazine’s pick of the top 5 locations for 2017.
- Biking is perhaps a surprise sport to choose for winter, but “fat biking” has become popular across the country, as described in this Outdoors Magazine article. The Vermont Mountain Bike Association offers a guide to winter trails in the Green Mountain state.
- Snowmobiling, with VAST trails that traverse the entire state, is an important source of winter recreation and tourism, as discussed in this recent article from the Times Argus.
Now, you know what we’re going to say next: lots of time spent playing outdoors requires some good food when you come back in. We wouldn’t want any winter enthusiasts to go hungry. To connect with Vermont food experiences near your destination, check out our options to explore DigInVT participants by region or specific place searches. If you happen to be hitting the ski slopes among your winter activities, don't forget to follow the Vermont Specialty Food Days tour of Vermont ski areas - details found here. And here’s hoping for some great weather this winter!
