Engaging in outdoor activities can teach you to embrace winter. | PHOTO: AYAIMAGES/ADOBE STOCK
LIVE AND LEARN
Turn the Outdoors into Your Classroom
Learning fun new skills can help you make the most of the snowy season.
By Kate Rae
Embrace winter by trying new cold-weather activities. You can find plenty to do outside, and a growing number of instructors, nature centres and community organizations are transforming the coldest months into a season of hands-on learning. This could look like reading a fox’s footprints in fresh snow, snowshoeing in untouched powder or figuring out how to pull off a night in the bush. Here are four outdoor pursuits worth exploring and where to try them out.
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Discover Animal Tracks in the Snow
Outdoor Winter Survival
Snowshoeing for Beginners
Winter Birding
Discover animal tracks in the snow
Ever wondered who’s really sharing your backyard or favourite trail? The moment snow hits the ground, it becomes a running record of every creature that passes through. Learning to read it is like unlocking a hidden story. You don’t need to be an expert to get started; most introductory tracking programs are built for beginners.
In person: Head into the beautiful Weston Family Tall Grass Prairie Interpretive Centre with Nature Norm. This wildlife tracking experience, led by veteran naturalist Norm Gregoire, is offered through the Shared Legacy Partnership. Gregoire has spent years reading this landscape, and he has a knack for turning a simple footprint into a full story. You’ll explore the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve trails to find out who’s been moving through the snow. Snowshoes are provided.
- Two hours (January 16, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.)
- Cost: Free
- Visit: sharedlegacymb.ca/news-events/events
Online: The Animal Track Identification Course run through Friends of Gatineau Park is an online, instructor-led deep dive into the prints, gait marks and other signs left by wildlife, including foxes and fishers. This course takes place every year in January.
- Four weeks
- Cost: $80
- Visit: ncc-ccn.gc.ca/events/animal-track-identification-course
Outdoor winter survival
Whether you spend your workdays outside or just like knowing you could handle a worst-case scenario, learning how to adapt and thrive in the elements builds practical competence without requiring a guiding certification. Lessons include starting a fire, building a shelter and decision making in cold weather.
In person: The International Canadian School of Survival runs a program out in Lac du Bonnet, where instructors walk you through skills from lighting a fire in adverse conditions to gathering and preparing food in the bush.
- Full day
- Cost: $150
- Visit: survivalbytraining.com/wilderness-safety-survival
Online: The International Canadian School of Survival’s self-paced Wilderness Safety and Survival course throws you straight into the essentials: starting a fire in challenging conditions, setting snares and building shelters that will keep you alive overnight. It’s designed to be worked through at your own pace, with advanced classes available once you have the fundamentals down.
- Go at your own pace
- Cost: $100
- Visit: icsos.thinkific.com/courses/WSS1
Snowshoeing for beginners
One of the most spectacular aspects of Canadian winters is the picture-perfect landscapes blanketed in snow. Being able to venture farther into parkland, around lakes and up hills can lead to more serene, untouched beauty. Making your way there as the snow gets deeper is the challenge — and snowshoeing is the answer. This sport is low impact, as the snow cushions each step. It’s still a great workout, though, because lifting each foot high enough to take a step counts as cardio. A little technical and safety instruction will give you the confidence to explore.
In person: Park interpreters offer guided snowshoe tours at many of Manitoba’s provincial parks, including Birds Hill, Clearwater Lake, Spruce Woods and Whiteshell. Immersive tours teach participants about the winter landscape and focus on the discovery of natural, cultural and historical resources to inspire stewardship of the parks. Spruce Woods Provincial Park provides access to free snowshoes for visitors so they can explore and learn independently. The schedule is published in late December with information about tours happening throughout winter.
- 1.5 hours
- Cost: Free
- Visit: manitoba.ca/sd/parks/education-and-interpretation/event-listings
Online: A great resource for outdoor activity, the Manitoba Chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) delivers a primer on getting ready to snowshoe. Extensive insight on picking the right gear and what to expect when heading out is a great entry point into the sport, safety recommendations and trail tips will give you confidence once you get out there.
- Go at your own pace
- Cost: Free
- Visit: cpawsmb.org/how-to-snowshoe
Winter birding
Far from being a quiet season for birders, winter reveals which species are tough enough to stick around in the cold — and watching them adapt brings its own kind of fascination. Winter birding programs tend to be low cost and low commitment, making them a simple way to get outside, while winter bird feeding adds to the enjoyment.
In person: Nature Manitoba runs regular bird outings across the province, where experienced birders share their knowledge as you explore different regions together — a low-pressure way to build your identification skills alongside people who have been doing this for years.
- Duration varies
- Cost: Free for members ($40 per year)
- Visit: naturemanitoba.ca/outdoor_activities/winnipeg-river
Online: Birds Canada’s self-paced course, Identifying Birds in Canada: Common Winter Species, is a great place to start. Learn to confidently identify 28 of the species most commonly spotted across Canada once the temperature drops.
- A few hours; go at your own pace
- Cost: Free
- Visit: learn.birdscanada.org/all-courses/winter-bird-id
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Discover Animal Tracks in the Snow
Outdoor Winter Survival
Snowshoeing for Beginners
Winter Birding