Adrenaline junkies and adventurers beware! Winter doesn’t have to be a lazy season spent indoors. Discover nineteen unique winter sports that you may have never even heard of.
Ski Biking: Particularly popular in Colorado as well as around the world, ski bikes have skis instead of wheels and can reach high speeds. People have been experimenting with designs since the 1970s.
Snowscooting: Snowscoots are similar to ski bikes but have a snowboard-inspired design. Popular in France, snowscoots are great for trying out crazy tricks.
Snow biking: As simple as it sounds, snow biking involves biking, but on snow or frozen lakes. Since hiking trails are usually closed in winter, snow biking can happen anywhere off the beaten track.
Ice Curling: popular in the Alps and known in German as Eisstockschießen. This sport is similar to curling because it requires the players to slide funny-looking metal stocks across ice; the aim is to get as close to the target as possible.
Snow Kneeboarding: Also known as redneck knee boarding, this sport involves a snowmobile dragging a person kneeling on a water board across snowy fields.
Ice Karting: Particularly popular in Finland, this sport is basically kart racing except on frozen lakes.
Shovel Racing: Like sledding but while sitting on a shovel. Surprisingly, shovel racing can clock speeds up to 96 kilometers per hour!
Wok Racing: Just like shovel racing, but this time in a Chinese wok. There are actually regular wok racing competitions held in Austria, although it was the Austrians’ neighbors the Germans who invented the sport.
Skijoring: A combination of cross country skiing and dog sledding (although a horse or a motorized vehicle can be used, too). This sport involves dogs pulling you around while you are strapped down on skis.
Yukigassen: A sport popular in Japan, Finland, Norway, Alaska, and Canada. This funny sounding sport is actually just a large snowball fight with similar principles to capture the flag.
Igloo building: Pretty self-explanatory, igloo building is popular in Canada. Competitions judge both the building skills and the aesthetics of the igloo.
Snow golf: Just as it sounds, it is similar to golf but with only nine holes and using bright balls that stand out against the snow.
Ice surfing: A hybrid sport combining wind surfing and ice boating. It allows people to glide across the ice at speeds up to 112 kilometers per hour.
Snowkiting: Using a power kite for pull and direction, a person can stand on skis or a snowboard and reach adrenaline-spiking speeds.
Winter Ziplining: Exactly what it sounds like, winter zip-lining allows you to see the winter scenery from above.
Snowmobile riding: A snowmobile is basically a motorcycle on a caterpillar track. Used to either explore snowy surroundings or go racing.
Snow kayaking: Kayaking (in a regular kayak) down a slope or pushed/pulled by people across a frozen lake.
Ice Climbing: One of the most dangerous sports in the world and popular in Chile among other countries around the world. It is common to climb frozen waterfalls.
Speed flying: A combination of downhill skiing with ski diving. Skiers reach almost 160 kilometers per hour.
Support us!
All your donations will be used to pay the magazine’s journalists and to support the ongoing costs of maintaining the site.
Share this post
Interested in co-operating with us?
We are open to co-operation from writers and businesses alike. You can reach us on our email at [email protected]/[email protected] and we will get back to you as quick as we can.
