Sure Travel Journey Vol 3.3 Winter 2017 | Page 33

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T R A V E L
Every year three huge heated tents are
erected with live music, food and enough
libations to
Raise the dead
© NOVIKOV/ADOBESTOCK
© DAGAN/SHUTTERSTOCK
© SNOWBOXX
Closer to home: If you’re too wise for the
annual duststorm of Oppiekoppie, try Littlegig
on for size. It’s a bit pricier, but well worth it.
RIDE A FATBIKE
© PREVE/ADOBESTOCK
Clockwise top left: From coffin
races to cryogenic martyrs, few
winter festivals are as weird – or
as fun – as the Frozen Dead
Guy Days in Colorado. Although
they’ve been around for 30 years,
fatbikes are the new craze when
it comes to making tracks in the
snow. Friends plus snowboards
= good times. Main stage at the
Snowboxx Winter Festival. The
Alps, home to some of the best
ski resorts in the world.
650 kilometres of slopes supported by 200
lifts. And each year Avioraz beats particularly
loudly as it hosts the annual Snowboxx
Winter Festival.
Days are spent skiing and snowboarding
at one of Avioraz’s three snowparks –
including The Stash, a famous run that winds
through the trees in Lindarets. But it’s the
traditional après-ski and nightly parties that
have made Snowboxx a sold-out event three
years in a row.
Fatbikes – bicycles with unusually wide
(around 10cm) tyres – have been around for
about 30 years. They were first developed
by a French adventurer who rode a
three-wheeled version through Africa, but
the concept was quickly adopted by an
Alaskan company called Icycle, and today
they are recognised as the best way to cycle
over snow.
There’s no better time and place to put
your pedal to the powder than at the annual
Snow Bike Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland.
While brands and manufacturers showcase
the latest in off-road and snow biking in the
large exhibit halls, cyclists can sample their
goods on the superb trails around the town.
The weekend culminates in the world’s
first UCI-accredited snow cycle race, with
hobbyists and serious bikers participating in
MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE // 33