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Fret not, frigid Montrealers. Escape is within your grasp — and feet.

No icy sidewalks to stumble over. No splash-backs of sleet from insensitive car and bus drivers. No bone-chilling temps requiring major bundling.

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OK, no sun or surf, either.

It’s been often suggested but still bears constant reminding: Montrealers can enjoy relatively balmy and dry climes right here, exploring our vast underground city. And get a good workout at the same time. And unlike an excursion to some exotic beachside resort, it won’t require a second mortgage, either.

Likely the only costs to be incurred will come if you choose to stop for a break at one of the estimated 17,689 — give or take — java joints along the way. Or shop for anything from a computer to — this coming week anyway — a car at the 2019 Montreal International Auto Show at the Palais des congrès.

Yes, folks, time to revert to coureurs-de-malls, snaking your way through this maze of 33 kilometres of connecting subterranean tunnels — one of the largest such network in the world — which pass under and through some of the city’s grandest edifices.