• Tuesday-What'sUP December 29 - 04:17 pm

Brrrrr..... I actually shivered when I spotted today's photos in Del Rajala'a photo album. I don't know the story behind the pictures, but I'm thinking that there was probably a U.P. sauna involved and perhaps this was their way of cooling down from the steamy treatment. Or maybe they had their own little private Polar Bear Club going on there. Whatever circumstances were involved, the young man in the second photo doesn't look like he's too sure about this ice bath thing and I can't say that I blame him. :->

I wonder if the men's reddish skin is the result of just coming out of a very hot sauna or the result of the very cold water!

OY!

No polar bear club just a few tuff Finns having fun!.... and yes the Sauna was just a short walk away from the water!

Yikes! That looks cold! I could not do that, no matter how hot the sauna was. I'll stay in the hot sauna while you guys jump in the lake, thank you.

Although I have never sat on ice to get into the water, I have come out of a friend's sauna at Hagerman Lake in late November and dove off the end of the dock through a very thin layer of ice that was just beginning to form. I was about seventeen or eighteen at the time. That was back in 1960. I do not know if I'd do it today. Still, it seems like fun.

I like the reaction of the young man in the second photo with his fingers extended, like that is going to help :)

BBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Strangely enough, if you jump in the frigid lake right out of the sauna it is does not feel all that cold, but feels as though your body is encased in an insulating blanket of heat! No, really! Been there, done that, many decades ago.

But I have to agree with Jack M. Penkivech (Kuba42), I'm not sure I'd do it again any time soon, as there is still that silly psychological obstacle to overcome, and I'm seriously out of practice!

Glad to hear there was a sauna nearby. I don't think I could do the ice though. Lake Superior in the summer is as cold as I can do after a sauna.

I could jump into a snowbank after sauna, but a frozen lake? I'm not so sure. Maybe. **shiver**

Brave Rajalas ;you are true Finns

I applaude the younger dude. He had his picture taken while completely in the water!

I'm afraid I'd wind up in the pneumonia ward of the hospital if I tried that (lol).

I have gone from a hot sauna into Portage Lake when I was much younger, in the fall of the year. And from the sauna rolling in a snowdrift. It didn't seem that bad. Of course, I didn't stay there too long. :o)