In March 2000, in a lake near Pello, Finland, he swam fifty-seven and a half metres beneath the ice. On the first attempt his corneas froze; he tried again.
In March 2000, in a lake near Pello, Finland, he swam fifty-seven and a half metres beneath the ice. On the first attempt his corneas froze; he tried again.
He prepared the way he always prepares: breath first, then the cold, then the mind that refuses the first urge to stop. What looks like a stunt from outside is, from inside, a very slow conversation with fear.
Years of daily immersion. Rounds of breathing to load the blood with oxygen and drop the carbon dioxide. A body that had learned to send blood inward and keep the core warm while the skin went numb.
And a rule: feel everything, react to nothing.
Vasoconstriction at the surface; a rise in adrenaline without panic; brown fat burning to make heat; the periaqueductal gray in the brainstem dampening pain. The mechanisms pages explain each in plain words.
The site's "sixty-six metres" figure is a later retelling; Guinness recorded 57.5 metres. The record has since been broken.
What I am capable of, everybody can learn.Wim Hof
