Here’s Jon Fishman with a fun post about snow (very relevant, since it’s really coming down here as I type this!) and our great new Extreme Winter Sports Zone series.

Snow measured in feet. Ice dams. Cars sliding, sideways, the wrong way down one-way streets. That’s right—winter has arrived in Minnesota! At times like these, it’s good to remember that a snowy winter isn’t all just car-window scraping and shivering. There are lots of fun outdoor activities to take part in when there’s a fresh layer of powder on the ground, and you can read about some of them in the Extreme Winter Sports Zone series (cover pictured).

The sports described in the series—such as snowmobile best trick and snowboard superpipe—are best left to the pros. But these books can provide a lot of inspiration when cabin fever sets in and one starts dreaming of moving to a place with fewer snow banks and more orange groves.

Downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling are exciting winter activities that just about anyone can take part in with a little practice and direction. Carving up a pipe on your snowboard or seeing how much air you can get off a steep ski jump are a bit more advanced. But the Extreme Winter Sports Zone series will show you how to get started and safely work your way up to the superpipe. Snuggling up in front of a fire with a hot cup of cocoa will feel more cozy than usual after you’ve hit the slopes for a few hours. Before long you’ll be hoping for even MORE snow!