I love the huge transitions that reset everything a few times a year. It makes me appreciate everything as it goes away and come back. You can't miss something that never leaves, ya know?
I love ice fishing and have since I could walk. It's a completely different activity in the winter, but incredibly rewarding and each phase of winter has its own attraction.
Early ice often has great fishing and is a bit of an adrenaline thing, out on only a few inches of crystal clear ice. I take pride in often being the first idiot out there.
As it thickens, I can reach more places and bring more gear safely, eventually driving on if snow isn't too deep. That opens up things like camping on the ice, which is such a fun thing to do.
Late season brings the burbot spawn, which is the most fun of the entire winter. Combine that with camping, sitting around a fire and fishing into a hole beside you, listening to tunes and eating and drinking, it's amazing.
I've slept in an unheated tent(heater off to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning) in -25C. I've had moose and deer come up within a few yards of me, and muskrats and beavers come into my fishing holes. I've listened to two groups of coyotes talking back and forth with me in between them. It's a way of experiencing nature that very few people are willing or able to do. It's very primal and very satisfying, especially since I'm usually alone.
That said, it winter was a month shorter, I might not complain. Problem with that though, is that it would bring more people and if the choice is cold winters or more obnoxious, noisy, inconsiderate bald monkeys around, I'm good with the cold.
I don't know all your abbreviations. What's that? Morth Dakota?
