The Art of Cars in Snow

Everything looks more dramatic in the snow, whether it's a powersliding 2012 Ferrari FF, a BMW M3 all crossed up or a Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen staring over the precipice.

Snow and ice distill driving down to its essence. Maybe you can handle a car at 60 mph on a perfectly warm sunny day, but how will you do at 30 mph with zero traction? It's all about control now. Actually, it's about losing control and regaining it — and losing it again, and bringing it back again. One day of driving on a frozen lake will teach you more about car control than a year of driving on dry pavement. You need to do it wrong a few dozen or a hundred times before you can understand how to do it right, and a hard snow pack provides endless opportunities to be the idiot or the hero.

But we're not teaching winter driving here, nor giving out grandfatherly advice on tire selection. Instead, we're opening up the archive of winter photos we've collected over the years. You'll see plenty of Land Rover Range Rovers, Porsche Cayennes and Quattro-equipped Audis, of course, but also less predictable stuff like a Mercedes-Benz SLS hanging out at the Arctic Circle, a Hummer H3 Sno-Cat lapping the Nürburgring and a 1969 Mini Cooper rally car being driven in Rallye Monte Carlo by Rauno Aaltonen.

There are 58 photos here. Get through them all, and then go have your own winter driving adventure before all the snow melts.