Winter Sports

Hello and welcome to ‘Postcards from Toronto ' a new series of short articles about life in and around Toronto . Each article is written to help you learn about life in Toronto and improve your knowledge of useful expressions for both written and spoken English.

When most people think about living in Canada during the winter, they imagine the weather must be bitterly cold with lots of snow. This is true sometimes, but cold weather and lots of snow have some advantages, especially for people who enjoy winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding or cross-country skiing.

One of the most popular places to do winter sports for people living in Toronto is "Blue Mountain", a small town around two hours northwest of Toronto . Most people in Toronto drive to Blue Mountain , but there is also a "Greyhound bus" that goes directly to the resort. The bus costs about $65 Canadian, which is approximately \5,500, and takes roughly three hours.

Most people go to Blue Mountain to do skiing and snowboarding but there are other little-known winter sports that can be great fun for people who cannot ski. One such sport is snowshoeing. Usually, I fall over when I go skiing, so I love snowshoeing because I never fall over!

Traditional snowshoes are made of wood and rope, and look a little like tennis rackets. Modern snowshoes, however, are long ovals of metal, plastic and fabric. You wear snowshoes by attaching them to your shoes. When you are wearing "snowshoes" it is easier to walk in deep snow, so you can enjoy hiking even in the middle of winter.

There are several places in and around Blue Mountain where you can rent snowshoes and hike on some specially designed snowshoe trails. For example, the "Scenic Caves" and "Wasaga Beach" have some interesting trails. Usually you will have to pay in the region of $10 for a trail pass ? this will let you enter the hiking area and use the trails. You will also need to rent a pair of snowshoes. These generally cost between $15 and $30 per day. In total, you might pay about $30 for a day of snowshoeing. This is 3,000, more or less.

Snowshoeing can be exhausting compared with normal hiking, but it is a great way to enjoy the beautiful winter weather and Canadian countryside if you are not a good skier. In fact, even if you can ski well, you might find that snowshoeing is a fun new way to enjoy winter. When there is a lot of snow, some Torontonians even enjoy snowshoeing in the parks and ravines of downtown Toronto .

Vocabulary Challenge
1. In paragraph two, which common phrase means the same as ‘very cold'?
2. In paragraph three, which noun means ‘a place where people go for a holiday'?
3. In the fourth paragraph, which adjective describes something that many people do not know about?
4. In paragraph five, which word means the same as ‘connecting'?
5. In the first and sixth paragraphs, which phrase means in and near one place or area?
6. Also in paragraph six, which four-word phrase means the same as ‘about' or ‘around'?
7. In the last paragraph, which adjective means ‘very tiring'?
8. Also in the final paragraph, which plural noun means ‘people who live in Toronto '?

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Bonus Challenge
Question 6 asked you to find a phrase of four words that has the same meaning as ‘about' or ‘around'. Native speakers often use this type of expression in spoken English. In the whole article there are four expressions that mean ‘about' or ‘around': two in paragraph three; and two in paragraph six. Can you find all of them?

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