A cracking trip
This holiday will break the ice - literally. The Arctic icebreaker in Finland ploughs through metres of the stuff as if it were polystyrene. If that doesn't get you chatting to fellow voyagers, then try the group plunge into the Baltic Sea wearing survival suits. The icebreaker is reached by snowmobiling across the frozen sea, with a pit stop at a traditional Kota tent for a reindeer sleigh ride. Follow that next day with a husky excursion through snow-clad forests and over frozen lakes before returning to the hotel to warm up in a Finnish sauna.
Bridge Travel (0870 191 7165) has three-night trips from London for £849, B&B with some other meals, staying in a three-star hotel and including activities and thermal outer clothing hire.
Jeepers creepers!
Learn to drive a 'super jeep', then put your skills into practice by driving in convoy through Iceland's snowscape over uninhabited, rugged terrain, surrounded by mountains and through valleys peppered with geothermal springs. End up at the volcanic Reykjanes Peninsula to take a dip in the open-air geothermal Blue Lagoon. The four-wheel-drives have 38-inch tyres and navigational tracker screen plus rescue and safety equipment.
Arctic Experience (01737 214214) has four nights' full-board for £1,295 comprising two nights at the Frost & Fire Guesthouse in Hveragerdi, one night in a rustic mountain hut in dormitories and one night in Reykjavik, with return flights, jeep course and vehicle use plus fuel and driving insurance.
Take the plunge
For the very brave or the very foolhardy, there's ice diving in Tignes, France, where a hole is pierced in the frozen lake at the heart of the ski station every day. Divers don drysuits that cover everything except their cheeks and lips, which are the only parts that come into contact with water at a temperature of about two degrees. Then, attached by rope to a guide standing on the ice, they plunge below the frozen surface into a world of colours caused by the refraction of light. It's an experience lasting 20 minutes. Warm up afterwards with a spot of ski jöring , being towed on cross-country skis by a horse round the lake.
Diving costs €65 (£41) with Evolution 2 and can be arranged through Inghams (020 8780 4433), which has seven nights' half board at the two-star Hotel Le Paquis from £499 with flights.
Igloo-building for beginners
Build your own igloo and sleep in it for a night on a nine-day trip to the wilds of the Charlevoix region of Quebec. Other nights are spent in log cabins with no electricity and just a wood-burning stove for heating and cooking. Days are spent dog-mushing and snowmobiling through vast snowy areas, across frozen lakes and past tiny villages with tin-roofed churches. There are also snowshoe treks, including a night hike to see the stars and the Northern Lights. One day and a night are spent in the ski village of Petite Rivière St Francois for anything from sledding to a hot bath, followed by a final day and night in Quebec City.
Travelbag Adventures (01420 541007) has trips for £1,099 plus a local payment of £105, including flights and most meals.
Bob down
Fancy yourself on the Olympic bobsleigh team? You can be the fourth person on the bobsleigh run at St Moritz in Switzerland with the team, which trains daily from December through March. It's a fast ride - the 1,620-metre run has been done at speeds of 145kmh, and you wear special clothing for extra speed.
The Original Travel Company (020 7978 7333), a new tour operator which goes live in January, has two nights in the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains for £944 per person including flights and one bobsleigh run. Other runs cost £115 each. Visits can be timed to coincide with activities such as the World Ski Championship (1-16 February), international horse races on the frozen lake (9, 16, 23 February), and the Polo on the Snow World Cup (last weekend of January).
Warm to a house-party
Winter walk in Wales over a long weekend, learning how to use crampons and ice axes in the mountains of Snowdonia. Groups of a maximum six people also learn how to build snow shelters. Hightrek (01286 871232) has three-night breaks staying at a 200-year-old whitewashed farmhouse at the end of the Glyderau mountain range from £250, including all food and drinks plus equipment hire. With an open fire in the sitting room and a library, the idea is to recreate a chalet house-party atmosphere. Rooms are simply furnished with bunkbeds and are not en suite. Walkers must have experience in summer conditions.
Be a cool dude
It's dude ranching with a difference in the United States with lots of snow thrown in. Winter ranch holidays at Black Mountain Ranch, McCoy, Colorado, combine as much horse riding as you (and the weather) can handle with sleigh rides and a trip on an old-fashioned feed sleigh pulled by a team of horses to feed the cattle. There's also snowshoeing and good snowmobiling, with old logging areas leading to areas full of bowls, hills and lots of powder. Ranch America (01923 671831) has seven nights' full board in luxury wood cabins for £1,765 per person including flights from several UK airports and activities.
A walk on the wild side
Go to Greenland for a snowshoeing adventure, walking along the wild coastline of Ammassalik Island on East Greenland and climbing inland mountains for views over the frozen landscape. Exodus (020 8675 5550) bases its six-day snow shoeing trip in Tasiilaq, a small town with brightly coloured wooden houses overlooking a fjord flanked by high mountains. Groups have six to 14 travellers who stay three nights in Reykjavik, Iceland, and seven nights in a simple guesthouse in Tasiilaq.
Trips depart in March and cost £1,295 plus a £150 local payment, including flights from London, helicopter transfers to Ammassalik and B&B in Reykjavik, full board in Greenland (sometimes cooked by the group). No previous experience is needed but travellers must be fit; up to eight hours a day is spent walking on snowshoes.
Cascades of fun
Climb frozen waterfalls of up to 150 metres in the Tarentaise valley in the French Alps, with the help of an ice axe in each hand, crampons and a rope connecting you to the guide. A maximum of two people can climb the sheer ice curtains at any one time, though no experience is necessary. A day's climbing costs €290 (£185), arranged from Méribel's Bureau des Guides (00 33 4 7900 3038).
Méribel also has its own high-altitude airport for anyone wanting to take a course in mountain flying. Details from www.meribel.net. Scott Dunn (020 8682 5050) has seven nights' half board at the three-star Hotel Allodis from £1,325 per person with flights.
Catch a Finnish fishing break
It's fishing in Finland, using snowshoes to cross the ice, either on Lake Lammasjarvi to catch perch and pike, or on Lake Syvajarvi to catch lake and rainbow trout and salmon. The price of £31-£44 for up to four hours includes equipment, fishing permit and refreshments. Guests staying at the Hotel Kalevala in Kuhmo close to the Russian border can also find their inner artist by doing a spot of ice sculpting, carving a baby bear out of ice. A three-to-four-hour lesson costs £50. Inntravel (01653 629010) has seven nights' half board at the Hotel Kalevala from £698 per person, including flights from Heathrow.
Dawdle in the Dolomites
Chill out with just enough walking in Italy to qualify as a winter activity break. Exodus (020 8675 5550) has a seven-night 'Dawdling in the Dolomites' holiday, which has three days of walking at a slow pace along paths rolled after fresh snowfall, punctuated by long stops on alpine terraces to enjoy the scenery. About 10km a day are covered, some in the heart of the mountains of the Fanes-Sennes natural park or the Fiscalina valley. Another two days are free for optional activities arranged by the guide including snow shoeing and tobogganing, which are included in the price of £559 full board. A free day is left for trips to Venice or Cortina.
Icing on the cake
For a real white wedding, get hitched at the Ice Hotel at Jukkasjarvi in Swedish Lapland. Say your vows in the ice chapel, which comes complete with reindeer skin pews and a frozen altar. Forget the Rolls for transport - here you can get your wedding pics in a reindeer sleigh or husky sled before cuddling up in one of the hotel's ice suites, sleeping in a thermal sleeping bag on a reindeer-skin topped ice bed. Scantours (020 7839 2927) has a four-night standard wedding break from Heathrow or Manchester for £1,195 per person on a B&B basis.
A whole raft of activities
Sample a spot of snow rafting, which is just one of the non-skiing activities offered at the family resort of Seefeld in Austria. Rafters take to their rubber dinghy and are towed up the mountainside by snowmobile before heading down the 300m slope at speeds of 40kmh. As well as rafting, there is outdoor swimming in the heated pool, ice dancing in the open air, curling and sleigh rides. Seefeld also has 80km of prepared snow tracks for walkers.
Inghams (020 8780 4433) has seven nights' half board at the family-run four-star Hotel Hocheder from £435 including flights. Activities are arranged locally; snow rafting costs €10-12 (£6-£8) per trip (00 43 5212 5090).
Walking in a winter wonderland
Walking through Switzerland's scenery is like walking through a Christmas card, with the added benefit that you get to stop at cosy mountain restaurants to sample raclette and fondue, washed down with lots of glühwein and hot punch. Sherpa (020 8577 2717) has one week's holiday with four days of unhurried walks through snow-clad forests, past frozen waterfalls and along dramatic high-level footpaths. About four to five hours of walking is done a day. A 10 February departure costs £715 per person including flights, seven nights' half board at a three-star hotel and a guide for four days plus route maps.
Have a whale of a time
Combine snowmobiling and whale watching in Alaska with Frontier Travel (020 8776 8709). You need to be seriously fit for this one or have previous motorbike experience; travellers cover up to 160km a day along wild terrain on the snowmobiles, along frozen rivers, through forests, and in mountainous scenery. Five days are spent snowmobiling, staying full board at basic lodges along the way, with a night each end at the Anchorage Hilton on a room-only basis.
There's a chance to see humpback and grey whales on a one-day trip at the end of the holiday in Steward. Trips in groups of eight to 10 people cost from £2,123 including flights and warm-weather clothing.
