Outside in MN

No experience required. From Minnesota Public Radio and MPR News, Outside in MN provides timely weather updates, events and how-to guides to prepare you for your next outdoor adventure. Download the app and get outside!

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Winter Play: How polar explorer Ann Bancroft finds magic in the winter
Polar explorer Ann Bancroft might be winter’s biggest champion. But Bancroft, who’s set records traveling to the North and South Poles, and crossing Antarctica, says the key to surviving our coldest months is to tap into your inner child. 
Pain, joy, solitude share the trail in Minnesota's 'world's toughest race'
The Arrowhead 135 winter ultra race tests athletes like no other competition. Some run it to test their survival savvy. Others come to test their spirit in the frozen, lonely North Woods. Every competitor has a story.
Winter Play: Melting the stress of frigid cold at a Minnesota bath house
As winter cold bites deep, MPR News is celebrating the best of the season through a new series called Winter Play. Our staff across the state set out to try a new-to-them winter pastime. MPR News producer Samantha Matsumoto and reporter Simone Cazares visited Watershed Spa in northeast Minneapolis to take a much-needed break from winter. 
Winter Play: Let's go ride a kite!
For our Winter Play series, where MPR News staff try winter activities new to them, Bemidji bureau reporter Mathew Holding Eagle III drove further — and maybe flew further — than anyone else as he tried winter kiteboarding.
Winter Play: The anticipation, anguish and magic of ice dipping
As MPR News staff fanned out across the state to experience cold weather activities they had never tried for the Winter Play series, Regina Medina and Elizabeth Shockman took a transformative plunge in Lake Harriet.
Winter Play: We tried Minnesota birrrd-watching
It’s cold. But the birds here don’t mind. Why not try your hand at joining them? As part of the Winter Play series MPR News’ Amy Felegy took to a snowy, wooded path in northwestern Minnesota to give you the scoop on winter birding for the first time.
Winter Play: Ice fishing — learning family tradition hook, line and sinker
Our staff across the state set out to try a new-to-them winter pastime. MPR News’ southwest Minnesota reporter Hannah Yang spent her first day ice fishing with her father-in-law and husband in Faribault, Minn.
Winter Play: Ice climbing on the North Shore
As part of MPR News’ Winter Play series, reporter Dan Kraker tried ice climbing for the first time on a cliff north of Two Harbors, an experience he found challenging, rewarding and — when it was over, at least — fun.
Winter Play: Cruising snow-covered trails on a fat tire bike near Brainerd
The sport of winter fat tire biking is booming in popularity. It’s an accessible, low-cost and fun way to get outside in nature during the colder months — and we tried it.