I didn't know such a thing existed but when i saw this on tv i was pretty shocked. Pics also back it up. I understand people will do ANYTHING to win, it's in all sports, but these guys are literally burned alive. No understatement at all.. *painting picture* skin literally falling off and blood boiling, yet people still enter the comp every year? definitly weird.
6 minutes is way too quick, but also 110 degrees is stupidly too hot while physics are still in play. Blood literally boils and evaporates at that temperature!!
Yeah, it is hard to understand why people take part at all, however knowing Finns as i do i can see why it started in the first place.
The sauna is an integral part of Finnish culture and many people take it very seriously and even competitively. Also a Finn will do pretty much anything to beat a Russian at pretty much everything.
This is no joke either. Even though the competitors may have been friendly, the very thought of being beaten by a Russian will serve as motive enough to stay in there until death do them part.
Like i said earlier, the heat wasn't the worst part of the sauna in question. Your average run of the mill Finnish family will happily have a sauna at around 80 degrees celsius for up to an hour or more, taking into account the situation of course. Every apartment block has saunas in them and people usually reserve a time each week for it (if they don't have their own that is). Now if it was their own sauna at a summer cottage for intance, they wouldn't be in any hurry to get out and could stretch it out over many hours with breaks to go swimming in the lake. The hardcore sauna goer will preset their stove to well over 80 degrees and can do the same as described beforehand. 100 degrees isn't out of the question and i know many folk who love their saunas stinking hot.
However the way people use their stove is completely different to the way they used the competiton stove. People will usually only throw a small amount of water (say maybe 1 or 2 cups full) at a time and will space out the throws to allow for the steam to dissipate before the next wave arrives. This way you can stay in for longer periods and enjoy the full benefits of the process. A good sauna is achieved with the right balance of hot dry air with humidity from the steam. The moisture in the air amplifies the feeling of heat inside the sauna so if the stove is extremely hot, you don't want to be throwing too much water onto it. Plus most regular stoves can't deal with constant water as they will cool down too quickly and fail to produce enough steam. The competition stove was very likely extremely powerful and designed to handle the heavy water load. I remember reading that every 30 seconds half a pint of water was automatically dropped onto the stove.
Now i'm no expert but i know that those conditions would have been intense to say the least. How they managed to put up with that kind of onslaught for so long really boggles my mind, most people would have been out in well under a minute, no question about it.
Wow.
What sort of bragging rights can one person achieve from winning such a feat?
Here in Finland those bragging rights do carry alot of weight unfortunately.
It is not uncommon for people to take great pride in being the last out of a hot hot sauna. They will just keep throwing water until every else has up and left.
Are you living in Finland Pete J ?? (looks at location) ... I worked with a Finish girl recently, and she was saying there are a lot of hermits in Finland (obviously in the fjords and lakes areas) ... she offhandedly mentioned something about high rates of mental instablility amongst the Finish ... whats your take on this ???
Seems to be backup by the World Champs of human boiling.
Whats the competition ? longest duration or highest temp or both ?
Yep, i live here alrighty.
While Finland does have it's fair share of nutters, i can't say that it has any more than back home. Although the climate does cause alot of problems and the people aren't always the friendliest folk you'll ever meet. They are hard nuts to crack but all in all i'd say that they are generally good people, once you get over the inherent racism that is.
In the country things might be alot different though, there they have huge problems with unemployment, alcohol and lack of finances. Suicide rates in the less populated regions are insane, it seems like something everyone knows about but never discusses...
As for mental instability resulting in this competition, well, i don't see the connection.
Pride is the cause here and nothing more. If Finns were as happy and outgoing in their normal lives as they are in the sauna, things would be just jim dandy!
BTW, the competition was based on endurance and not heat. Temps don't actually rise when you throw water onto the stove, it will just produce masses and masses of steam. this in turn creates the illusion that it is getting hotter without it actually doing so. the stove is what determines how hot a sauna is and unless you keep turning up the dial (or piling wood into the furnace) it won't actually get any hotter.
edit: there aren't actually any fjords in Finland. All we have here is lakes, forests and archipelagos.
