While in many parts of the world, winter is brought on by light festivals and spiced warm drinks, ice-swimming enthusiasts from the Siberian city of Omsk welcomed winter with a different kind of tradition - cutting a pool into a frozen lake and taking a dip as a community. It sounds insane but look, everyone’s having a great time. Yair Ben-Dor has more.
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00:00 While in many parts of the world winter is brought on by light festivals and spiced warm drinks,
00:05 ice swimming enthusiasts from the Siberian city of Omsk welcomed winter with a different kind of
00:11 tradition, cutting a pool into a frozen lake and taking a dip as a community. It sounds insane,
00:17 but look, everyone's having a great time. According to Reuters, dozens of locals who
00:23 call themselves walruses gathered at the bank of the Irtysh river to participate in an amateur race
00:29 or simply to brave the 3 degrees celsius waters or 37.4 degrees fahrenheit with the air temperature
00:37 hovering around zero degrees celsius or 32 degrees fahrenheit. It feels good after the water,
00:44 really good. The skin turns red, circulation improves, mood improves, life improves. It's my
00:51 second or third year already swimming. I've started my season very satisfied. This is probably the
00:57 best thing that has ever happened to me. Some members of the walrus club like 19 year old
01:03 Victor celebrate by trying to break personal records of staying in the water, a feat not
01:09 easily accomplished when temperatures in the area can easily plummet to minus four degrees
01:14 fahrenheit around December. We're glad everyone is having a good time though and hope that there is
01:20 someone there to serve warm soup.