Why swim in a river at 0°C?
There are plenty of reasons: Get out of your comfort zone, build character, discover your limits. There are plenty of justifications: Simply crazy, settling a bet, religious penitence/purification. All those might apply, however for me it is a CELEBRATION. A celebration of how well I’m doing nowadays. I was born in a big city, I grew up surrounded by the grayness of concrete. The river in my city was so polluted that its smell alone would keep you away. Going into nature implied a family trip, implied planning, implied getting everyone to agree and then traveling far away until we could reach a clean river, a waterfall or a lake. Only then could I jump into those clean, refreshing and relaxing waters. In those day it didn’t matter how cold they were.