Where to trade in your snow tires for a team of huskies

Tanya McCready and Hank DeBruin mounted their first dogsledding trip—a short jaunt from their home near Guelph Lake—in 1999. Not long after, the pair sold their house, quit their jobs (he was a millwright; she was an engineer) and bought 55 acres of pristine wilderness at the northern edge of Haliburton, three hours outside Toronto. There, they launched Winterdance, a company that runs dogsled tours on the Canadian Shield. McCready and DeBruin now own 150 purebred Siberian huskies, a massive heated kennel and more than 850 hectares of land criss-crossed with winding trails. They lead city-dwellers in need of rural relaxation on idyllic rides past frozen lakes, marshes and towering rock cuts crowned by hemlock trees. (High rollers opt for the heli-dogsledding option, which includes chopper transport to and from Toronto.) On nighttime excursions, sledders stop halfway to sip hot chocolate around a roaring bonfire. From $120 per person for a two-hour trip; $1,425 for heli-dogsledding. Winterdance.com.

The Winter Hater's Guide to Loving Winter

Food & Drink

How to get a taste of the tropics without leaving Toronto

Secret no. 1 to making the most of the city this chilly season

Style

How to dress as cozy as Drake in “Hotline Bling”

Secret no. 3 to making the most of the city this chilly season

City News

How to bike through the winter in comfort and style

Secret no. 4 to making the most of the city this chilly season

Style

Where to soak up the seaside in a suburban salt cave

Secret no. 5 to making the most of the city this chilly season

Style

How to avoid wearing boots all winter

Secret no. 6 to making the most of the city this chilly season

Food & Drink

How to warm up with winter beers

Secret no. 7 to making the most of the city this chilly season

Food & Drink

Where to take a wintery weekend road trip

Secret no. 8 to making the most of the city this chilly season

Food & Drink

Where to thaw out with the city’s best seafood soups

Secret no. 9 to making the most of the city this chilly season

City News

Where to ice fish in style

Secret no. 10 to making the most of the city this chilly season

Style

How to keep your kids crazy-warm, thanks to a full-frontal parka

Secret no. 11 to making the most of the city this chilly season

City News

How to surf Lake Ontario when the weather’s sub-zero

Secret no. 12 to making the most of the city this chilly season

Shopping

How to start a fire the old-fashioned way

Secret no. 13 to making the most of the city this chilly season

Food & Drink

Where to hunker down for hotpot

Secret no. 14 to making the most of the city this chilly season

Style

Where to get a DIY yurt that’ll put snow caves to shame

Secret no. 15 to making the most of the city this chilly season