Winter Cold, Blizzards, and Arctic Expeditions Collection

It is human nature to want to be warm. Most people would prefer to be warm on a sunny tropical beach where the coconut palms gently sway in the breeze but snuggled up under a soft blanket next to a crackling fire with a cup of hot chocolate is a welcome alternative. Being warm and comfortable is simply preferable to being cold and miserable, so it can be difficult to imagine that people will deliberately seek out the cold. The reality that sometimes the cold cannot be avoided is bitter enough.

The simple fact is that most of us live in places which are embraced by winter's icy grip at least part of the year. Not being prepared to deal with the cold can be more than simply uncomfortable, it can be fatal. Nonetheless, snow and ice can display beauty as well as lead to some incredible fun! Although the slippery surface can be dangerous, it can also lead to some incredible and thrilling demonstrations of speed. Jack Benny and the Gang from The Jell-O Program make a trip to Yosemite for some winter sports, but first, they have to get their gear at the sporting goods store. Fibber McGee is determined that his old sled will make a fine gift for some adventurous youth, but first, he needs to fix the bends and bangs the toy has gathered over the decades. On another winter night, Fibber decides that nothing would be better than to bundle up for a bracing hike out to the lake if only he could gather the ambition to actually leave the warm and comfortable fireside. One of the more interesting winter sports tales is heard on The Adventures of Sam Spade when the gumshoe has to travel to the murder scene on skis!

Sometimes there is no way to avoid the cold because of your job or mission. That was certainly the case for the Corps of Discovery on Horizons West when the Lewis and Clark Expedition endured the "Dakota Winter" and spent a soggy season at the "Fort on the Columbia".

The Hallmark Hall of Fame profiles western hero Tom Mix as he endured a four-day blizzard to bring in a pair of bad guys. The harsh prairie winters were a constant danger for Marshall Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, along with the desperadoes hiding in the storms. The Lone Ranger found a hidden advantage after he discovered that Tonto could predict how harsh the winter was going to be by reading the flames of the campfire.

Cowboys of the Old West were pretty tough, but they could learn a thing or two about the cold from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The story of "Mrs. Mike" gets told on Screen Directors Playhouse and The Lux Radio Theater, a pretty Boston girl falls in love and marries a Sergeant of the Mounties, and finds romance and adventure in the frozen North. Lux returns to the Canadian wilderness with "Island in the Sky", originally starring John Wayne (unfortunately, the Duke does not appear in the radio version) in the story of a C-47 carrying War supplies which is forced down on a frozen lake near the Quebec-Labrador border.

The coldest, and perhaps most dangerous regions on the planet are above 66°33′47.0″ north or south of the Equator, the Arctic, and Antarctic Circles. Destination Freedom tells the story of Matthew Henson, the African-American explorer who was one of the first men to reach the Geographic North Pole.

The Antarctic has an even stronger hold on the imagination of armchair explorers. Not only is the lonely continent at the bottom of the world a frozen and forbidding wilderness, reaching it means crossing some of the stormiest and dangerous seas on the planet. Still, there are no adventurers too bold or too brave for Fred Allen and Jack Pearl to poke a little fun at. The Cavalcade of America relates how American seal hunters discovered the Antarctic continent.

See also: Winter Chills Tales of Horror, Mystery, and Intrigue and Yeti and Bigfoot