Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/112497
THE BOOK Sisters Sledge IN JANUARY 2012, British adventurer Felicity Aston became the first woman to manually ski solo across Antarctica. No kites. No machines. The 34-year-old meteorologist merely pulled two sledges for 59 days across 1,744 kilometres of ice and snow. But her lonely, frightening journey was only slightly more dangerous than her previous expedition in 2009, when she invited and trained eight women from Ghana, India, Jamaica and elsewhere to ski to the South Pole. The frigid, storm-battered, crevasse-riddled landscape was even more daunting with Amundsen-newbies on board, some of whom had not seen snow before their first orientation session. THE GIFT Aston captures all the tent-dome politics and blisterpopping drama in Call of the White: Taking the World to the South Pole (2012, Summersdale; $15). 2012 travel-book stocking stuffer ideas: bcaa.com/2012books THE MADE-IN-B.C. CATCH Lux in a Roe AS THE SOURCES of wild sturgeon eggs in the Caspian Sea around Russia and Iran succumb to overfishing and pollution, Canada���s first and only sturgeon farm is helping fill the gap. Located on the Sunshine Coast at Pender Harbour, Northern Divine organically produced its first batch of black caviar from Fraser River white sturgeon in 2011. ���We���ve spent 12 years getting to this place,��� says GM Justin Henry of his world class product, ranked among the world���s top five sustainable varieties by Travel + Leisure magazine. THE GIFT Starting at $99 for 30 grams (northerndivine.com). Or: sample at Pender Harbour���s Painted Boat and Gibson���s Saltwater Chophouse on the Sunshine Coast; and at Hawksworth and C restaurants in Vancouver. THE SANTA TRAIN 3:10 TO SANTA OF ALL THE WAYS TO enjoy Chris Van Allsburg���s 1985 children���s Christmas classic, the most ���track-tile��� is to board The Polar Express at West Coast Railway Heritage Park for a 45-minute roll through Squamish. The vintage diesel pulling 1950s-era cars may not be a dead ringer for Van Allsburg���s steam locomotive, but passengers will see many gorgeously restored choo-choos as the train pulls out of the museum���s rail yard for its short jaunt through a town surrounded by snowy peaks. After an intransit reading of the dreamy North Pole fable, passengers then return to the Roundhouse where Santa and Mrs. Claus await with ��� to quote the book ��� ���hot cocoa as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars.��� THE GIFT Tickets from $24. December 1 to 2 and 8 to 9. 604-898-9336; wcra.org (snow bike) istock, (black caviar) Northern Divine, (Call of the White) Trafalgar Square Publishing, (The Polar Express) Houghton Mif���in Company p14-17_Frshtrx.indd 17 WESTWORLD >> W I N T E R 2 0 1 2 17 12-11-01 10:30 AM