The temperatures are dropping and the nights are long in January in Alberta, Canada, so the famous ski town of Banff attempts to cheer things up (Beyond the great skiing), with its annual, magical SnowDays Festival.
Running this year for as fortnight from this Friday, 17 January through to 2 February, Banff National Park' SnowDays Festival will see a myriad of events and attractions.
Off the slopes, visitors can watch snow sculpting artists create intricate carvings from multi-storey high snow cubes, marvel at the madness that is skijoring where cowboys, cowgirls and their horses perform trick snow jumps right on Banff Avenue.
That's all part of a whole host of daytime and evening entertainment, ice walks, night lights and musical events.
Banff is home to the ski areas of Norquay, Sunshine and lake Louise which offer a tri-area pass that covers one of the largest skiable areas in North America and includes public transport between the centres and from the ski town of Banff itself.
Other Alberta ski areas also have special winter festivals on this month, most notably Jasper in January to the north.
