Winter wildness

A man walks past an ice covered car on the frozen waterside promenade at Lake Geneva in the city Versoix on Feb. 5. The extreme winter across Europe has caused many disruptions and threatened lives as people struggle to cope with the freezing temperatures.

A woman looks out of a window covered in frost on a bus in Bucharest, Romania, on Feb. 2. At least 11,000 villagers have been trapped by heavy snow and blizzards in Serbia's mountains, authorities said, as the death toll from Eastern Europe's weeklong deep freeze continues to rise.

Sheets of ice float on the Oder river on Feb. 1 near Frankfurt, Germany.

A frozen house is seen along a dogsled-race route in the Orlicke mountains, Czech Republic, on Jan. 26. Each year, racers from all over Europe arrive to the village of Destne in Orlicke mountains in the Czech Republic to take part in the race.

People watch the frozen Triberger waterfalls in the Black Forest in Triberg, Germany, on Feb. 7.

Ice crystals cover the windshield of a car after overnight temperatures fell to minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit in Ilmenau, Germany, on Feb. 5.

The central Adriatic Croatian port of Senj is covered in thick ice near Zagreb, Croatia, as the sun sets on Feb. 8. Extreme weather and snow trapped more than 100 villages in remote, mountainous parts of Croatia.

People skate on the frozen Lauriergracht canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Feb. 8. Several of the city's famous canals have frozen over, giving residents a rare opportunity to skate by waterfront houses.

A surfing enthusiast gets ready to brave the icy waters at La Zurriola beach in San Sebastián on Feb. 4. An ongoing cold spell has hit Europe with temperatures plummeting far below zero.

A man walks through Roncesvalles, where snow and wind billow across the region in northern Spain, on Feb. 2.

Members of a local winter swiming club dip in the Yenisei River before going for a swim in a temperatures around minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit in the town of Divnogorsk, Siberia, on Feb. 3.

A car drives through a snowy landscape on the Grosser Inselberg mountain near Tabarz, Germany, on Feb. 6. The deadly cold snap that has gripped Europe for more than a week has wrought havoc across the continent, straining emergency services and grounding flights.

As a snowstorm hits the Denver metro area, Jerry Anderson, 54, of Lakewood, Colo., takes care of his quarterhorse named Britches, at Wild West Ranch, on Feb. 3, in Arvada, Colo. "I don't know how horses survive in this weather, but they do," says Anderson.

A man looks at the giant icicles on a rock in central Tbilisi, on Feb. 7.

A pedestrian walks between snowy stairways at the Olympic park in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 7.

Walkers take part in a hike across the frozen Wadden Sea near Pieterburen, The Netherlands, on Feb. 8. Walking on seawater is special because salt water freezes at a temperature of 24 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ducks take off from a pond on a brisk day in Minsk, Belarus, on Feb. 1.

An aerial view showing the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, on Feb. 4, following heavy overnight snowfall. Although usually blessed with a moderate climate, the rare snowfall forced authorities to stop visitors from entering the city's famous tourist sites.

Women walk near the Trevi fountain during snowfall on Feb. 3 in Rome. A rare mantle of snow blanketed the historic center of Rome as temperatures in the Alpine region of Piedmont in northern Italy went as low as minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit.

A mother with her son look at a snowman at Saint Peter's Square in Vatican City on Feb. 4.

Two children make snowballs in Lincolnshire, north east England on Feb. 5. Many parts of England have been plunged into freezing temperatures over the last week.

A sparrow with extended feathers due to the cold sits on a branch in temperatures around minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit in central Kiev, on Feb. 3.

An elderly woman is wrapped in thick winter clothes as she sells cigarettes to passersby in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 3.

An Afghan street barber sits on a plank in the snow as he trims the mustache of a customer in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Feb. 9. Temperatures in Kabul dipped to as low as 3 degrees Fahrenheit, with the lowest previous on record at 1 degree Fahrenheit about 15 years ago.

People carrying sleds and tubes hike up to a sledding hill in Chautauqua Park on Feb. 3 in Boulder, Colo. Boulder reported between 12 and 16 inches of snow, closing most schools and government offices.

A young Romanian makes his way through a blizzard in central Bucharest, Romania, on Jan. 26. The storm cut electricity in 182 localities, 364 public schools were closed, 28 flights were canceled, two highways and 24 national roads were closed, and one train was derailed.

Birds grab a bite at a snow-covered park in Sofia, Bulgaria. Most of the nation is suffering from severe winter conditions, including extremely low temperatures and heavy snowstorms.

Snow covered cars in Pristina, Kosovo, and closed all elementary and high schools in the region.

Japanese wild monkeys sit in an open-air hot spring at the Jigokudani (Hell's Valley) Monkey Park, in Yamanouchi, Japan.

Matt Redmond, 3, and his father, Mike, zoom on a sled after an overnight snowfall in Baltimore on Jan. 21.

Some commuters walk toward a rail station as the snow accumulated in downtown Chicago on Jan. 20.

A woman pushes a cart to her car as snow fell in Chicago on Jan. 20. The storm caused hundreds of flights to be canceled at O'Hare International and Midway airports.

Sledders, skiers, snowboarders and pedestrians take over a snow-covered street in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle on Jan. 18.

A frosty fog stretches above the Yenisei River with temperatures at about minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on Jan. 17.

A musher and his dogs run through the village of Bonneval-sur-Arc during the eighth stage of the La Grande Odyssee sled-dogs race on Jan. 16. The race crosses the Alps in France, covering 621 miles over 11 days.

Kashmiri women play in the snow in Srinagar, India, on Jan. 16. The snowfall cut off the valley from the rest of the country.

A daisy is covered in hoarfrost on Jan. 16 in Cologne, Germany.

Tyler Courtney clears his driveway Jan. 13 in Canton, Ohio, as a winter storm swept across the Midwest.

A crossing guard stops traffic as children walk to school in cold and snowy weather as Illinois receives its first significant snowfall on Jan. 12 in Springfield, Ill.

People skate on ice paths Jan. 12 at a park in Moscow.

Men fish on a frozen canal Jan. 12 in Beijing, China. Despite few and very small fish living beneath the ice, a number of enthusiasts enjoy spending long hours sitting in the cold waiting for a bite on their line. For most it is just a pastime, and they release the fish back into the water. Others hope to bring home something fresh to eat.

A girl forms a snowball Jan. 6 on snowy stairs at the Olympic stadium in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

A young girl goes down an ice slide Jan. 5 at the International Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in China. The annual three-month festival attracts visitors from all over China as well as a number of foreign guests who brave below zero temperatures to see colorful large ice and snow sculptures, ride horse-drawn carriages and enjoy a number of winter activities set up on the sidelines of the festival.

A Catholic priest looks at the ice altar Dec. 28 inside a church made of snow in the Bavarian village of Mitterfirmiansreut, Germany.

People build snowmen and ride a sled in Kolomenskoye, a historical and nature reserve museum in Moscow, on Jan. 1.

Beijing residents enjoy skating and sliding on the city's frozen lakes in the Shichahai district on Dec. 29, 2011. Winter has brought a light snowfall and temperatures rarely above freezing in China's capital.

A fine snow covers a dog playing on the snow in Oberhof, Germany, on Dec. 30, 2011.

The sun shines on snow-covered stables in Sapuen, in the Swiss canton of Grisons, on Jan. 3.

Men warm themselves by a fire at a railway yard on a cold winter morning in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh on Jan. 3.

Tourists have dinner inside the Balea Lac Hotel of Ice in the Fagaras mountains in Romania on Dec. 28, 2011. Entirely made of ice, the hotel offers accommodation in 10 double rooms with king size beds, at a price of $45.73 per person.

A father and his son pull a sled through the snow at the Feldberg mountain in Germany on Dec. 20, 2011.

Cross country skiers slide during sunny winter weather near the Swiss mountain resort of Davos on Dec. 27, 2011.

A horse stands in the intense wind and snow near his corral off of Highway 70 in Las Cruces, N.M., on Dec. 5, 2011. Snowfall started to blanket the City of the Crosses at about 11 a.m. and steadily continued throughout the day.

A woman walks through trees during a snowfall in a park in Beijing on Dec. 2, 2011. It was the first snowfall of the winter in the Chinese capital.