Unforgettable, Unbelievable, Unpredictable …What’s Next?

Top photo shows Huutajat at the 2016 International Winter Swimming Association competition in Skellefteå, Sweden.

Huutajat is a choir that enters a venue (e.g., International Winter Swimming Association World Cup competitions) in a paramilitary manner and begin to scream, bellow and shout excerpts from national anthems, children’s songs, and international treaties. Sometimes the text is delivered as a complex rhythmic structure, sometimes as a simple-but-loud reading.

But similar to winter swimming, Huutajat symbolizes the structure and unpredictability of swimming in really, really, really cold water.

As we think about growth of the sport next season, the International Winter Swimming Association World Cup will attact more individuals and the discipline may see the first individuals achieve The Ice Sevens Challenge within 1-3 years.

The Ice Sevens Challenge is the ice swimming equivalent of the Oceans Seven. To achieve the Ice Sevens, a swimmer must complete a 1 km swim under standard ice swimming rules (i.e., no wetsuit and no neoprene hat) in the following locations:

o Ice Mile swim in any location in Europe below 5ºC (41ºF)
o Ice Mile swim in any location in Russia below 5ºC (41ºF)
o Ice Mile swim in any location in China below 5ºC (41ºF)
o Ice Mile swim in any location in the U.S.A. below 5ºC (41ºF)
o Ice Mile swim in any location in South Africa below 5ºC (41ºF)
o Ice Mile swim in any location in South America below 5ºC (41ºF)
o Ice Mile swim in any Polar location in the Arctic Circle or Southern Ocean below 5ºC (41ºF)
o Ice Mile swim below 5ºC (41ºF) in any Polar location at 60º south or below or 70º north or above

o With one important caveat, one of the seven Ice Miles must be a documented Zero Ice Mile (defined as a solo mile swim performed at below 1ºC without a wetsuit or anything neoprene).

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