🔥⛷️THIS hidden gem will spice up your winter

Happy Friday, Boston!

🏒 Good news: On March 8 and 26, the Boston Fleet are ditching their Lowell digs and playing two games at BU’s Agganis Arena. Better news: Two-pack tickets to see both games go on sale at 10 a.m., and single-game tickets will be available Jan. 31.

🥳 Also … Happy birthday to B-Sider Sara Sienkiewicz and happy early birthday to Emileigh Radcliff! If being an amazing B-Side reader were a PWHL tournament, you’d both win the Walter Cup. <3

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Red Line shutdowns on deck

• Another vape bites the dust

• 10 years since Snowmageddon 

Up first…

WINTERING IN BOSTON

Spice up your winter hot girl walk

Tired: Hot girl walks while it’s snowing. Wired: Hot girl walks while snowshoeing.

Last time on our Wintering in Boston Series, we covered Moki’s Winter Sauna Village. This time, we tried out the Weston Ski Track in Weston.

Here’s what we thought:

🎿 Weston Ski Track has miles of trails for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. You can get there on the Green Line’s D branch followed by a 30-minute walk (which we did), but there’s also parking. The track has 9.3 miles of natural-snow trails (weather permitting) or 1.5 miles of trails with man-made snow. It’s open seven days a week, and you can walk-in. All you need to get going is a trail pass ($13) and cross-country skis or snowshoes, which are available for rent ($25). 

🚶 Want to spice up your winter walks? Try snowshoeing. It’s the more low-key option offered at Weston Ski Track and requires virtually zero experience or athletic ability — perfect for Gia. The track has specific scenic trails for snowshoers, but you can roam just about anywhere (as long as you’re respectful of skiers and their tracks!).

⛷️ Want more of a workout? Cross-country skiing it is. It has a slightly higher bar to entry, but luckily Weston Ski Track offers lessons for $48 with a trail pass included. That said, we were assured that it doesn’t take much to get up and running. There are tons of beginner-friendly trails, plus a few black diamond trails if you’re a pro. Gia brought her former-competitive-Nordic-skier boyfriend, and he was impressed with their maintenance and terrain.

❄️ Either way, the intimidation factor is basically zero. The staff was super friendly and laid back. Unlike the somewhat high-stakes vibes of learning to downhill ski, this felt much calmer, slow-paced, and less crowded. There were a handful of skiers of all levels out and about. And though we were the only snowshoers, no one looked twice.

👍 Our two cents: This is 100% a hidden gem. Whether you’re looking for a new wintertime hobby, a one-day experience, or love skiing but can’t make it to the mountains, you can’t get much better than this. While we loved snowshoeing, we’d honestly recommend cross-country skiing for the best bang for your buck. For $73 you can get an trail pass, rentals, and a lesson (downhill skiing could never). 

QUICK QUESTION!

⛷️ Are you team snowshoeing or cross-country skiing?

TOGETHER WITH SALUTE TO NURSES 2025

Know a nurse who deserves a shout-out?

❤️‍🩹 🏥 It’s time to give credit where credit’s due. Nominate a nurse who went above and beyond to make a difference in your life for The Boston Globe’s 2025 Salute to Nurses. Whether they’ve been your personal hero during a rough patch, saved the day with a reassuring smile, or just made the hospital feel a little more like home — now’s your chance to say “thank you” in the biggest way possible. Submit a nomination today and give them the recognition they deserve. 

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🚇 Red Liners, prepare for some serious déjà vu. Because this weekend, it’s MBTA shutdown time. From Jan. 25 to 26, shuttle buses will replace service between JFK/UMass and Braintree for some sorely needed signal upgrades. That said, the agency is encouraging riders to use the Middleborough, Kingston, and Greenbush commuter rail lines between Braintree, Quincy Center, JFK/UMass, and South Station, which will all be fare-free. Godspeed, Red Liners.

⛴️ New Seaport ferry route: Unlocked. Last week, the Boston Planning & Development Agency board approved an agreement to extend the Seaport Ferry’s Lovejoy Wharf-Fan Pier route to include a stop at Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park. Like before, the new and improved ferry route will run every 20 minutes during peak commuting hours and cost $5 a ride, while the full route will now take about 30 minutes. The details are still being finalized, but the new year-round service is expected to set sail around June 2.

🚭 Another vape bites the dust. Newton recently became the latest in a growing list of Mass. towns to pass a “generational ban” on tobacco products due to their (somewhat obvious) health concerns. Basically, these laws aim to “phase out” tobacco sales by banning them for people born after a certain year (in this case, March 1, 2004). Anyone born before that date can continue to purchase them. And Somerville might join that list soon; the city is considering a similar ban for anyone born after Jan. 1, 2005. 

🔥 If you’ve been spending most of this winter hunkering down … Consider this your official nudge to get out of the house and into a cozy restaurant. Boston.com put together this “anti-hunker down” list, a roundup of restaurants and bars that are making concerted efforts to keep customers cozy and warm, even when there’s an arctic blast outside. There are spots with heated-igloo seating, fireplaces and pits, even cozy winter specials like fondue or spiked s’mores hot cocoa. So … what are you waiting for?

GIVEAWAY

Together with Emerson Colonial Theatre

Enter to win tickets to four must-see shows at Emerson Colonial Theatre! To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on Jan. 29. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

THINGS TO DO

Weekend plans

😅 Laugh at other people’s trauma. No really, it’s OK. This “Laughing Through The Pain” comedy show tonight asks you to do exactly that while comics share their deepest, darkest traumadies. 

🥙 Eat allll the free hummus. The Hummus Shop on Beacon Hill is raging all weekend long with its grand opening party. On the menu: Free samples of hummus, falafel, spicy pickles, and more!

🪡 Pick up the craftiest hobby. You’ll never have to worry about gift giving again after taking this intro to embroidery class on Saturday with the Boston Fiber Company.

🤠 Let your dog ride a mechanical bull. OK, you technically can’t do that … but there will be both dogs and a mechanical bull (and a whole lot of country music) at Park-9 Dog Bar’s Saturday Country Fest.

🐍 Ring in the Lunar New Year. It technically starts Jan. 29 … but The Loring Greenough House is kicking things off early with its Lunar New Year weekend celebration. Expect everything from kung fu performances, to tea tastings, to a dumpling-wrapping party. 

🪩 Stretch out under the disco lights. If you thought yoga and disco didn’t go together, you’ve clearly never been to a yoga disco class. This one’s on Saturday at Bow Market. 

🍹 Go out with a bang this Dry January. Dray Drinks, Boston’s non-alcoholic bottle shop, recently opened a second location in Central Square. It's celebrating with a grand opening party on Saturday, equipped with free NA bev tastings and a few fun surprises. 

🏳️‍🌈 Support local LGBTQ+ businesses. Time Out Market is hosting its Made with Pride market on Saturday, showcasing over a dozen LGBTQ-owned businesses selling unique and thoughtful gifts.

ONE LAST THING

10 years since Snowmageddon 

If you were complaining about this week’s arctic blast … may we remind you of a little incident called Snowmageddon? A.k.a. The January 2015 blizzard that dumped 24.4 inches on Boston over a two-day period — and kicked off Boston’s snowiest winter on record. 

This weekend marks its 10-year anniversary (omg), so we thought we’d take a walk down memory lane. All in all, 110.6 inches of snow hit Boston, thanks to four major snowstorms in three-and-a-half weeks. And the vibes were … chaotic.

Schools were closed, an MBTA GM resigned, a Southie snow pile got as high as 75 feet, and Emily only attended half of her Monday-night classes that spring semester because they kept … getting … cancelled … 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

❄️ Thanks for reading! 2025 Boston could never … or could it?

🚇 The results are in: 46% of B-Siders say that they feel OK about MBTA changes, but still have some trust issues. One reader said: “Dear Boston Jesus, please save the Red Line. We need it. And get rid of the carpeted seats. Sincerely, all riders.” That’s beautiful.

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].