Courtesy of Nicolene Steynberg about the Madswimmers‘ The Big Swim on Mt Ojos del Salado in Argentina.
With time running out, high-altitude swimmers Jean Craven (Madswimmers founder), Milton Brest, Evan Feldman, Chris Marthinusen, Herman van der Westhuizen, Robert Graaff, and Juandre Human will attempt to complete a high-altitude swim at 5,909 meters on Ojos del Salado.
Their original Plan A to swim at 6,400 km (20,997 feet) above sea level did not pan out, but Plan B at 5,909 meters (19,386 feet) will still be the highest 1 km swim in history, beating Lewis Pugh’s swim of 5,300 meters on Mount Everest. Considering that the team is facing -18ºC temperatures at night, the feat is a tough challenge.
They are cutting a lane in the frozen lake today with chain saws – itself quite a feat. If the pool will be made, the plan is to swim on Saturday.
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