Nominate your favorite Maine businesses for Best of Maine!

25 Ways to Embrace Winter

Ride a dogsled, ski Acadia, skate in Portland, and more ideas for making this your best winter ever.

By Brian Kevin
Photo: Sean Carnell

In the Snow


1 Starter Kit

Winter adventure newbies can choose from two multisport crash courses with L.L. Bean Outdoor Discovery Schools. Hit the trail on skis or snowshoes during a weekend at Moosehead Lake, or throw dogsledding into the mix on a three-day trip to Flagstaff Lake. Both excursions are led by Maine guides and end with fireside cocoa back at the cabins. Feb. 8­–10 and March 7–9. $525–$650. 888-552-3261. llbean.com

2 Battle Royale
On snowy days in Portland, the stone footbridge at Deering Oaks occasionally becomes the O.K. Corral of winter warfare, the locus of impromptu snowball fights that have been known to draw up to one hundred people. Facebook is often the catalyst, so search for pop-up public invites on days when the powder flies — or just show up with your balaclava at high noon. Deering Oaks, Portland.

3 Helpful Hypothermia
It isn’t winter in Maine until you’ve run half naked into the ocean. Sure, you can do this on your own, but why not raise money for Casco’s Camp Sunshine by doing it at the Freezin’ for a Reason Polar Dip at Portland’s East End Beach? Last year’s plunge drew more than one hundred maniacs and raised enough to send twelve kids to camp with their families. Feb 15. 12 p.m. Eastern Promenade, Portland. 207-655-3800. freezinforareason.com

4 Sleigh-er Tour
Bundle up for the World’s Greatest Sleigh Ride, a Maine tradition in its twenty-first year, with more than a dozen teams of draft horses making tracks through the woods and a postcard-perfect farmer’s field. The Curtis family’s homemade doughnuts are worth the price of admission alone. Lovebirds, take note: Though it’s a bit late for Valentine’s Day, this is a winter dating slamdunk. Feb. 16. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. $4 adults, $3 kids. Rte. 125 and Bowdoinham Rd., Lisbon Falls. 207-353-2200. pinetreesociety.org

5 Outdoor Soak
If you’ve ever wanted to swim laps in a Jacuzzi — or just spa it up with a couple dozen of your best pals — Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel has you covered, with a huge new outdoor hot tub that soaks up to thirty people. You’ll need a room reservation, though, as the $240,000 pool is only open to guests. Sugarloaf Resort, 5092 Access Rd., Carrabassett Valley. 207-237-4201. sugarloaf.com

On Planks

6 Ski the Big Guys

Both of Maine’s megalith ski resorts have widened their footprint: At Sunday River, the new T72 terrain park features sixteen acres of rails, jumps, and an eighteen-foot superpipe, designed in consultation with freeskiing Olympic hopeful (and native Mainer) Simon Dumont. Sugarloaf, meanwhile, has opened seventy new acres of sidecountry, with fit powderhounds now able to hike the summit of neighboring Burnt Mountain, accessing new glades, steeps, and chutes on that hill’s rugged northern face. Sunday River Ski Resort, Newry. 207-824-3000. sundayriver.com. Sugarloaf Mountain Resort, Carrabassett Valley. 207-237-2000. sugarloaf.com

7 Ski the Little Guys
This summer, the Maine Winter Sports Center turned over ownership of Bigrock Mountain in Mars Hill and Black Mountain Ski Resort in Rumford, leaving the hills dependent on local fundraising to stay open. Both tiny resorts have a family vibe, a mess of winding Nordic trails, and fun tubing hills, and both could use support this winter from anyone who likes the idea of lift tickets that cost less than lunch. Bigrock Mountain, 37 Graves Rd., Mars Hill. 207-425-6711. bigrockmaine.com. Black Mountain Ski Resort, 39 Glover Rd., Rumford. 207-364-8977. skiblackmountain.org

8 Nordic Bliss
Don’t tell the two million visitors who crowd Mount Desert Island each summer, but deep down, Acadia is really a winter user’s park. Thirty-two miles of carriage roads groomed for cross-country skiing show off MDI in its silent season, from wooded loops speckled with fox footprints to hillside trails overlooking the snow-covered Bubbles and frozen Jordan Pond. Acadia National Park. 207-288-3338. nps.gov/acad

9 Cozy Pit Stop
Keep your snack bars and your Adirondack chairs — the best warming huts are no-frills, BYO thermos kind of joints, just four walls aged in woodsmoke in some back-of-beyond locale. Consider the humble A-frame at the northwest tip of Millinocket’s Northern Timber Cruisers Clubhouse trails. A four-mile ski through fen and forest ends at a shack too small to swing a pole in, where the only amenities are one sturdy woodstove and a stunning Katahdin view. One mile northwest of Millinocket on Baxter State Park Rd. 207-723-6203. northerntimbercruisers.com

On Ice

10 Throw Stones
The Belfast Curling Club kicks off the year with a morning and afternoon of Learn to Curl clinics, two-hour intros to the seemingly inscrutable — but wicked fun — Scottish ice game. If you find you’re a natural at sliding the heavy discs called curling stones, you can join the club and get a team together for periodic winter tournaments called bonspiels. Jan. 5. 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. & 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. $10. 211 Belmont Ave., Belfast. 207-338-9851. belfastcurlingclub.org

11 Lace Up
The ice is flooded and groomed all winter for ice skating on Deering Oaks Pond, where hand-holding couples glide past pick-up hockey games and giggling baby boomers lying flat on their backs. There are restrooms and benches, and the colored lights in the trees give the park a dreamy glow for after-dark skating, but you’ll need to bring your own skates and refreshments. Deering Oaks, Portland. 207-874-8793. portlandmaine.gov/rec/rec.asp

12 Learn the Ropes
Do go chasing waterfalls — frozen ones — with Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School, which leads beginners’ ice-climbing trips at Sugarloaf, Grafton Notch State Park, Acadia National Park, and Camden Hills State Park. At Grafton Notch, the pocket of eroded rock known as the Amphitheater offers some of New England’s classic routes, with columns of chiseled ice tumbling over the cliffs. Trips begin at $160 per person. 888-232-9559. acadiamountainguides.com

13 Drill, Baby, Drill
Moosehead Lake’s 118 square miles hold no shortage of great ice-fishing spots, but the best place to pull in lunker lake trout and salmon is around Farm Island on the lake’s western side. Book a weekend at nearby Tomhegan Wilderness Camps, where resident managers Norm and Leona Harding will rent you a shanty and put you on the fish. Rockwood has a bait shop, but the closest ice augers are in Greenville, on the lake’s south end. Nightly rates start at $110. 832 Spinney Rd., Rockwood, 207-534-7712. tomhegan.com

14 Inebriated Ice

The operating principle of an ice luge is simple: Liquor is poured down a chute in an elaborately carved, tabletop ice ramp, chilling your cocktail even as it’s poured. But don’t worry — you don’t need to attend a frat party at the North Pole to try one. The tenth annual outdoor Ice Bar at the Portland Harbor Hotel features liquor luges alongside intricate ice sculptures, fire pits, and hors d’oeuvres from restaurants like Buck’s Naked BBQ and Zapoteca. Jan. 23–25. 5 to 9 p.m.  $25. 468 Fore St., Portland. 207-775-9090. evesatthegarden.com

In a Crowd

15 Ready, Aim, Fire
The Olympics it’s not, but crowds still line the trails to cheer on the less-than-expert marksmen of the paintball biathlon at Lost Valley Ski Area. Participants cross-country ski among a series of targets, firing paint rifles for prizes and bragging rights. It’s one of several offbeat events that are part of the three-day Auburn Winter Festival. Jan. 25. 11 a.m. 200 Lost Valley Rd., Auburn. 207-784-1561. lostvalleyski.com

16 Long Live the King (and Queen)
A tradition since the 1960s, Sugarloaf’s White White World Week is a debauched series of stunts, parties, and contests, culminating in the coronation of the resort’s king and queen. Royal hopefuls and a horde of (often scantily) costumed celebrants attend nightly theme parties until the wee hours and compete in events like the Bathing Suit Sled Derby and Snowshoe Obstacle Course. Not one for the wallflowers. Jan. 19–23. Sugarloaf Mountain Resort, Carrabassett Valley. 207-237-2000. sugarloaf.com

17 Keep on Truckin’

Leave it to the over-caffeinated minds at Red Bull to bring off-road rally-truck racing to the snowy slopes of Sunday River. Red Bull Frozen Rush finds 900-horsepower 4x4s careening around the South Ridge, launching from jumps, and tearing through slalom gates. What could possibly go wrong? Free energy drinks are a safe bet. Jan. 10. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday River Ski Resort, Newry. 207-824-3000. redbull.com

18 Chute First, Ask Questions Later
Even if you’re not among the racers to blast down Ragged Mountain at forty miles per hour on a four-hundred-foot toboggan chute, you can still enjoy the tailgate atmosphere at the U.S. National Toboggan Championships. Drop in on the carnivalesque shantytown called Tobogganville to ride a mechanical bull, enter the chili cook-off, or just warm up at the bonfire during this gonzo, twenty-four-year Camden tradition. Feb. 7–9. Camden Snow Bowl, 20 Barnestown Rd., Camden. 207-236-3438. camdensnowbowl.com

19 Mushy Stuff
Hundreds gather to watch some of the Northeast’s finest dogsled teams race along S-curved trails during the Maine Lakes Mushers Bowl. Even more fun to watch are the skijorers — skate skiers hitched to eager pups. Come back in February for the Bridgton Winter Carnival to join a mushing team for a twenty-minute ride across frozen Highland Lake. Mushers Bowl, Jan. 25–26. Carnival, Feb. 15–17. Rides $30. Bridgton. 207-647-3472. www.mainelakeschamber.com

20 Winter Brew

A good winter beer is like a good winter coat — downy and strong, but not too heavy, leaving you toasty but not immobilized. Rising Tide Brewing Company’s Ursa Minor fits the bill. An American stout brewed with German yeasts, it’s a malty winter warmer that drinks like a much lighter beer. When available, get it on nitro at the brewery for a pour that’s velvety smooth. 103 Fox St., Portland. 207-370-2337. risingtidebrewing.com

Under a Roof

21 Reel Good Time
Two of Maine’s first families of folk team up in Augusta for the Family Folk Festival, a celebration of Quebecois and Celtic-influenced reels, jigs, ballads, and sing-alongs. Boardman and Sons features fiddler par excellence Greg Boardman, and the five-piece Gawler Family Band is the Rolling Stones of traditional string music, with stage personality to match their talent. This is folk for folks who don’t think they like folk. Jan. 5. 2–4 p.m. $10. Jewett Auditorium, 46 University Dr., Augusta. 207-621-3551. concertsatjewett.com

22 Chamber Made
Canada’s Gryphon Trio is one of the world’s most respected piano trios, with a chamber repertoire that embraces everything from the Classical and Romantic periods to contemporary film scores and Leonard Cohen covers. A piece by Canadian composer Chan Ka Nin was written to evoke the imagery of Canada’s aboriginal peoples — appropriate for Orono’s Collins Center, which houses indigenous artifacts from around the globe in its Hudson Museum. Feb. 2. 3 p.m. $35. 5746 Collins Center for the Arts, Orono. 207-581-1755. collinscenterforthearts.com.

23 Order Up

During Maine Restaurant Week, some of the state’s best chefs whip up special three-course menus to celebrate local culinary talent. The week kicks off with a breakfast cook-off at South Portland’s Sea Dog Brewing Company and ends with the Signature Event gala at the Prime Mercedes-Benz dealership in Scarborough, where partygoers sample creative cocktails and desserts and vote for their favorites. With nearly a hundred restaurants participating, it’s a hedonistic labyrinth that hardcore foodies will need the MRW iPhone app to navigate. March 1–10. Dinners $25, $35, or $45. 207-775-2126. mainerestaurantweek.com

24 Carve Out a Niche
In the darkest depths of winter, a visit to Bowdoin College’s Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum is a good reminder that things could be worse. Along with the permanent collection of polar-exploration memorabilia is a seasonal scrimshaw exhibit, showing off the impossibly detailed carvings of old-time whalers on walrus tusks and whale teeth and bones. Artifacts like an elaborate ivory cribbage board suggest that whalers had some time on their hands between humpbacks. Through April 27. Free. Hubbard Hall, 9500 College Station, Brunswick. 207-725-3416. bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum

25 Hearty Hearth
The snug, three-stool bar at Lincolnville’s Whale’s Tooth Pub & Restaurant is dominated by the yawning chasm of a walk-in fireplace and the four-foot logs — trunks, really — piled up to keep it fed. Brass fixtures, exposed oak beams, and a mahogany bar give the room a warm, Old English feel. No chill withstands the glow of that fire and a Whale’s Tooth Coffee (Bailey’s, Kahlua, Grand Marnier, whipped cream, and a splash of joe). 2533 Atlantic Hwy. (Rte. 1), Lincolnville. 207-789-5200. whalestoothpub.com