december-2009

ICE SWIMMING | BERLIN
78 | TRAVELLER | DECEMBER 09
IT’S THE SEASON most closely associated
with cosiness: a time for staying indoors,
curling up in front of a fi re, a warm drink
in hand. Christmas and New Year inspire
homebound feelings for the vast majority
of people in northern Europe, but there’s
one group of eccentric individuals who see
it as the perfect time to plunge themselves,
stark naked, into freezing water.
“You feel fresh and reborn,” says Andrej
Barth, a member of the Berlin Seals, a
group who go skinny dipping in Berlin’s
Orankesee Lake during Germany’s winter
months. “It’s a nice feeling. If it’s raining
and windy, it’s not so pleasant, but if it’s
sunny and cold, especially with some ice
and snow about, you feel really refreshed.”
On Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and
the second Saturday of January, this zany
Clockwise from here,
crazy costumes fi t
for a crazy event;
last winter’s theme
was Greek gods
group of Berliners – known in German as
Berliner Seehunde – hold widely attended
mass swims in East Berlin, encouraging
people to wear Santa Claus beards and
hats, or at least themed costumes (last
year it was Greek gods). These colourful
jamborees that see hundreds of bathers
wade into waters that hover perilously
above zero degrees clad in little more than
red bobble hats and synthetic beards are
repeated across northern Europe; Holland,
Finland and Scotland are all countries
where famous Christmas Day and New
Year’s Day swimming events are held.
But for the Berlin Seals, a group of
60 Berliners ranging in age from 10 to
80, these events are the climax of several
months’ submersion. The hardy swimmers
meet at Orankesee Lake every Sunday
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