Starting the 300m subterranean voyage
The Moravian Karst close to Blansko in the district of Moravia in the Czech Republic is a magical subterranean world of abysses, spectacular caves and a mysterious underground river that springs from deep with the karst system – Punkva.
The area was first widely explored in the 18th century and since then it has been a hive of activity for speleologists and geologists and since the 1950′s….winter swimmers!
The famous Oldrich Liska from Prague first swam within the caves by taking a boat trip and then simply jumping into the cold water for the return journey.
He came back several times and along with the well known speleologist and diver Karel “Tunnel” Divisek and other prominent long distance and winter swimmers. Thus the tradition of swimming down the Punkva river in the Moravian Karst was born. for the last 60 years the opening of the winter swimming season in the Czech republic has been held here and every year it is over subscribed. This year, in 2011 around 50 swimmers were unlucky enough to have their applications refused and a total of 177 entered the cave system by boat and swum back out to the open wide world.
This kind of swim in an underground river with a constant water temperature of around 8c, surrounded by amazing Karst formations such as stalactites is a unique experience. The venue, the atmosphere and the incredible feeling of reaching the real world again after a short voyage in the underbelly of the earth combined with the actual swim itself to make this an unforgettable event – even for those winter swimmers who have experienced it many time before.
Enjoy the photos and watch out as in a few weeks there will be a short video from this amazing event published right here! That alone is worth coming back for.
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