Let It Snow – Winter on Three Continents

A flurry of snowflakes in a winter wonderland. For this report, we traveled to Montreal in eastern Canada, to the forested expanses of Karelia in northwestern Russia, and to the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Winter can be pretty tough in all three places. The average annual snowfall in Montreal is two meters. Maxime Fournier is in charge of keeping the roads in the city center clear – – even after the worst snowstorms. Maxime says it’s an impossible job. He co-ordinates the big ploughs that go out as soon as snow is forecast. And he oversees the trucks that carry away the white stuff from the downtown area. That’s 12-million cubic meters a year – – equivalent to the cargo capacity of 200,000 freight wagons. But even if all the snow was left on the ground, people could still manage. Montreal is criss-crossed by a network of tunnels – – and a 35 km-long labyrinth of passages connects hotels, offices, shopping malls, and even an ice hockey rink. There’d be plenty of room to play hockey on the 66,000 frozen lakes of Karelia. But the local residents prefer ice-fishing. Local resident Andrei Kokkonen says it’s an ideal pastime. Andrei adds that ice-fishing is also good for your health, because you use all of your muscles. The traditional Ban’ei horse race takes place on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido – – often at temperatures as low as – 16º C. It features powerful draft animals that pull heavy sleds over a hilly track.