Sauna Plunge

Norway is a sauna culture, including intermittently freezing yourself while in a sauna session. This isn’t limited to the countryside — it also happens in cities. In Oslo, this happens in the fjord harbor across from the Opera House, on small sauna cabins that float on the water:

They’re open to the public & communal, but you have to reserve, book, & pay online.

They include changing rooms, towers to jump off into the water, and ladders to get out of the water (you can also see the Opera House in the background here):

The saunas burn real wood to heat up. View when sitting inside the sauna getting hot:

You get a 90 minute session and the ritual is: Sit in the sauna until you sweat, jump in the water & freeze, scurry back into the sauna until you sweat, repeat. Here’s a closer view of the sauna & “swimming” area:

And here’s what it looks like to bathe in 34°F choppy water when it’s 38°F outside:

I loved it,Sure, it’s cold & painful at times, but you feel amazing for hours afterwards. That vid was my first time in, and I got more courageous and jumped in, swam around a little, and stayed in longer, but it was still so F’in cold I only lasted about 15 seconds each time.

I wish we had something similar in DC. I’d definitely want to do it weekly.