Cold Comfort

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Want to head for the great outdoors but don't fancy sleeping in a drafty tent? Then try bedding down under snow instead. Mountain Innovations, tel: (44-1479) 831 331, a small trekking company based in Inverness-shire, Scotland, runs "snow-holing" holidays — where your bed is literally gouged out of the permafrost. Groups are kept to a maximum of eight people and, after a compulsory day of winter-skills training, embark upon a two-day expedition over the Cairngorm and Cairn Lochan mountains to the Ben Macdui plateau, where your accommodation is constructed.

A hole takes about three hours to make and is large enough to sleep nine. "Snow is also a great reflector of light, so once we have the candles dotted around and the stove cooking the evening meal, it's not nearly as bad as one might expect," says a guide. And the reward for roughing it is the best wake-up call in Scotland: in the pristine winter air, from some of Britain's highest ground, there are panoramic views stretching 150 kilometers or more. The next snowy trek takes place March 12-14 and is priced at $508, including airport or train-station transfer and lodge accommodation when you're not snug in your snow hole.