Idea for another book! It’s not about the ski. …I think it’ll be about just loving doing stuff outside year round. My ski book shows this, but why not do another with a wider scope.
I’m wondering if a challenge and a hook might be found in promoting just plain WINTER or SNOW. Winter, cold, snow, ice and dark all have terrible reps. Climate change is messing with us, too. Promoting ALL the cool ways you can have fun in the cold would be good. What’s more, people’s misery starts in Nov. Heck, biking fades after Labor Day though autumn is so beautiful.
Concept: a short, image-heavy chapter for each “off season” fun. It could almost be coffee-table-ish — use a format that works well w print-on-demand and ebook. Inspirational — w nifty ideas, facts and a touch of how-to. Say, 3 pages for each topic.
Women are big drivers in both culture and self-help “continuing ed”: book-buying. Yet they’re a neglected demographic in outdoor sport, especially winter. POC too. And unsupervised young people. …So show them all as best I can. That will be hard due to no budget and likely lack of response to any request for submission, but whatever.
Here are some topics:
Cyclocross
Rollerskiing
Trailwork
Fall and winter fashion
Fall and winter foods
Holidays outside — Halloween, Thanksgiving, Xmas, NYE, Valentines
Health, SAD issues
Groups, classes, friends — learning how (buddy system safety)
Ice skating — wild ice, Nordic, lakes, rivers, DIY rinks, ice trails
Sledding, toboganning, pulks
Skiing of all kinds (snowboarding)
Snowshoeing
Ski joring
Dogsledding
Sauna and sweat lodge
Winter camping, hot tenting
Snowbiking
Ice biking
Winter commuting and urban riding
Ice boat sailing
Winter paddling
Winter surfing!
Winter swimming, cold adapting
Fires, wood stoves, bonfires
Firewood making
Coziness
Picnics
Outdoor lighting! Xmas lights all winter…
Igloos and ice structures
Gear — packs, boots, saws, axes, puukko knives
Snow removal — shovels, scoops, machines
Aurora borealis
Winter Driving — Tires, winter van life
Spring — mud, melt, corn snow, sun, new growth, skiing
Also, what about… Snowmobiling!
Ice fishing
Hunting
Fall steelhead
Rabbit hunting (snowshoes and beagles)
(Notice how I don’t incl luxury resorts or dangerous places like mountaineering, avalanches, or ice-climbing, or expeditions, or big air jumps. This is about cheap, free, everyday life, fun, health and neighborhoods. Not injury, death-wish, air travel, or macho stunting. It’s funny how that dominates most winter media. That combo of luxury + macho is against the message: it tells everyday people that winter isn’t for them.)
