Saturday, February 27, 2016

Viides avantofest - 5th ice swimming festival, Helsinki

Feel like going for some ice swimming in Helsinki? 

 Follow the "viiksipojat" who organise every winter a ice swimming festival, going five days in a row to some special ice swimming location.

I went on Thursday sauna to Kuusiluoto, a small inlet that is reached by a path made of wood board through a large reed area. Kuusiluotto is host to a few sheeps in summer, the old hut of the shepherd, from the time they was one, a sauna and a swimming pier. Facing it, the district of Aranbianranta gives some light to the place.

The sauna for eight contained seldom less than twenty people in a joyful atmosphere that evening. The long way to the avanto, the hole in the ice, was a challenge in the chilly wind. But after a dip in the water, the body become insensitive to cold and we could just hang out around the avanto and walk slowly back to the crowded sauna.

The shepherd hut was transformed in a small coffee place to recover from the the sauna and the swimming. Delightful! 25.02.2016.

The facebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/196099564085053/