Ten Fun Winter Sports to Try Beyond Skiing, from Sledging to Luge

Skiing is only the start of what snow and ice can offer. From a floodlit Swiss sled run to a dog team in Greenland, these ten winter sports and activities cover everything from gentle family fun to Olympic-level speed. Here is what each one involves, where to try it and what to expect.

1. Sledging from Preda to Bergün, Switzerland

The Preda–Bergün sled run in Graubünden is one of the most famous in the Alps. Cars cannot drive up to Preda: you park at Bergün station and take the train, which runs about every 30 minutes and climbs to Preda in 17 minutes. From the station you set off downhill, and the descent takes 20 to 30 minutes depending on speed and snow. The trains belong to the Rhaetian Railway’s Albula line, opened in 1904 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site; its 67 km include 42 tunnels and galleries and 144 viaducts and bridges. In the evening the run is floodlit, and night sledgers pass beneath illuminated viaducts.

• Season 2026/27: 19 December 2026 to 14 March 2027, conditions permitting.
• Sled hire: six models from CHF 11 a day, collected in Preda and returned in Bergün; booking online is 15% cheaper and includes one free train ride up.

2. Ski jumping

Ski jumping was born in Norway. The first recorded jump was made by Olaf Rye in 1808, a leap of about 9.5 metres, and Sondre Norheim, often called the father of modern ski jumping, won the first competition with prizes at Høydalsmo in 1866. The sport has been on the Winter Olympic programme since the first Games at Chamonix in 1924, and women jumped at the Olympics for the first time in 2014.

Hills are graded by size: normal hills have a K-point of 75–99 metres, large hills 100–130 metres, and ski-flying hills more than 170 metres. On the biggest of them, Planica’s Letalnica bratov Gorišek in Slovenia, Domen Prevc flew a record 254.5 metres on 30 March 2025. Modern jumpers hold their skis in a V, a style pioneered by the Swede Jan Boklöv in the mid-1980s. The photos here come from Steinach in Germany. Clubs with small training hills teach children the basics on tiny jumps, but for most people the best way to enjoy the sport is from the stands at a competition.

3. Snowkiting

Snowkiting borrows the traction kite from kitesurfing and puts the rider on skis or a snowboard. With the right wind, a kiter can travel uphill as easily as down and cross huge open snowfields and frozen lakes. It is a different skill from downhill skiing: wind reading and kite control matter most, so start with a course at a snowkite school on a wide, flat area.

4. Snowboarding

On a snowboard, both feet are strapped to one board, and you turn by shifting weight between heels and toes. The first day or two are usually full of falls, but progress often comes quickly after that. A lesson on gentle beginner terrain is the fastest way to link your first turns, and many riders later move on to terrain parks or deep powder.

5. Alpine skiing

Classic downhill skiing remains the heart of most winter holidays. When picking a resort, beginner slopes, a good ski school, rental shops and easy transport matter more than the size of the trail map. More experienced skiers can look for glacier skiing, off-piste guiding and long valley runs.

6. Dog sledding in Greenland

In Greenland, dog sledding is still part of everyday life in the north and east. The Greenland Dog descends from dogs brought from Siberia by the Thule people around a thousand years ago and has been bred for strength and endurance in the Arctic ever since. To protect the breed, importing other dogs is banned in western Greenland north of the Arctic Circle and in all of East Greenland. Numbers are falling, from about 15,000 dogs in 2016 to about 12,000 in 2021, and projects now work to preserve both the dogs and the sledding culture. A trip with a local musher is one of the best ways to support it.

7. Ice hockey

The first organised indoor ice hockey game was played in Montreal on 3 March 1875, and the sport has been Olympic since 1920, joining the Winter Games in 1924. Each team has six players on the ice, three forwards, two defencemen and a goaltender, and a game runs over three 20-minute periods. Today it is hugely popular in Canada, the northern United States, Scandinavia and central Europe.

For beginners, public “stick and puck” or learn-to-play sessions at an indoor rink are the easiest way in, with a helmet and protective gear. Outdoor pond hockey on a frozen lake or a mountain rink is the sport at its most joyful, and watching a local game makes a great winter evening out.

8. Snowmobiling in Alaska

The snowmobile has Canadian and American roots. Joseph-Armand Bombardier of Valcourt, Quebec, built his enclosed seven-seat B-7 snow vehicle in 1937 and launched the small Ski-Doo around 1959–60, while in Roseau, Minnesota, the team that later founded Polaris built an early modern machine in 1955–56. In Alaska, where people usually call them “snowmachines”, they are everyday transport in remote areas, and the state hosts the Iron Dog, billed as the world’s longest snowmachine race: 2,031 miles (3,269 km) from Big Lake to Nome and on to Fairbanks.

For visitors, guided tours lead across snowfields, along forest trails and towards glaciers, and on clear nights the northern lights can appear overhead. Choose a guided trip with instruction; the guide knows the route, the snow and the rules.

9. Luge

In luge, the rider lies face up and feet first on a small sled and steers mainly with the calves, pressing on the runners. Top racers exceed 140 km/h. The sport began in 19th-century St. Moritz, where English guests at Caspar Badrutt’s hotel adapted delivery sleds for fun, and the first organised race in Switzerland was held in 1883. Luge has been an Olympic sport since 1964. Its sister sports on the ice track are skeleton, ridden head first and face down, and bobsleigh.

Some tracks open to the public, such as the luge club track in Negaunee, Michigan, and the track in Naseby, New Zealand.

10. Ice skating

People in southern Finland were skating more than 4,000 years ago, most likely to save energy on winter journeys across frozen lakes. The Dutch added sharpened steel edges in the 13th or 14th century, and that blade, which cuts into the ice instead of sliding over it, made real skating possible. Today it is the easiest winter sport to try in a city. Indoor halls run public sessions all winter, and many towns set up outdoor rinks in squares and courtyards for the holiday season. For a classic outdoor experience, read about Ottawa’s Rideau Canal Skateway.

Prefer a more relaxed winter holiday? Our Rovaniemi Christmas planning guide mixes snow activities with plenty of time to warm up.

Related reading

• Sorin Radu’s Avalanche Recording in Romania’s Retezat Mountains
• Tandem Snowboarding Friends: Kinsley and Emma’s Family Film
• Andrew Muse’s Snowkiting Film: Wind, Snow and a First-Person View
• Michelle Salt’s Early Competitive Para-Snowboarding Story
• Sochi 2014 Slopestyle: A Rider’s View of the Olympic Course
• Twenty-Five Ski Towns and Mountain Destinations Around the World

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