Icy Himalayan swim to help Red Cross
Wearing a Speedo, Jean Craven, of Kommetjie, and Neo Kunene, of the City Bowl, have swum in a Himalayan ice pool, more than 6400 metres above sea level, to raise money for two hospitals and awareness of climate change.
Mr Craven and Mr Kunene were part of the Madswimmer team, which also included fellow swimmers Vanes-Mari du Toit, of Pretoria, and Deniz Kayadelen, of Zurich, as well as team doctor Chiara Baars, of Milnerton, cameraman Thufayl Ali, of Durban, and tour leader Sean Disney, of London.
The team pulled off the stunt at Mount Putha Hiunchuli, in Nepal, last Friday.
Mr Craven, who is the founder of the non-profit Madswimmer, said they had wanted to beat their previous high-altitude swimming record, which was set in the Chilean Andes, at 5909 metres above sea level, in 2015, as well as a later record of 6370 metres set in 2020 by Australian Daniel Bull.
“The purpose of the swim is also to foster global dialogue on climate resilience,” he said.
The team arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal, towards the middle of last month. Mr Craven said the trek to the swim site had been the most arduous part of the journey.
Following three flights and a nerve-racking 17-hour Jeep ride along steep cliffs, the team embarked on a 138km uphill slog that lasted 15 days.
Mr Craven said they had faced harsh, icy conditions, battling wind and snow, and navigated treacherously near crevasses that threatened to collapse beneath them.
At 6405 metres, they carved out a swimming hole in the ice and melted ice in large drums that preserved the liquid water overnight.
“The next morning, we removed the canvas, filled the ice hole with the liquid water we preserved and took turns swimming in it for about three minutes each, wearing Speedos only,” said Mr Craven.
The outside temperature at the time had been -6 degrees Celsius with a water temperature of 3.7 degrees Celsius.
Madswimmer aims to raise more than R2 million to be split equally between the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and the Adolescent Oncology Unit at Universitas Academic Annex Hospital in Bloemfontein. So far, R20 000 has been raised on Madswimmer’s BackaBuddy account.
“Both these organisations do amazing work with children. Most charities reach out to us with their proposals; we try to help wherever we can to encourage children and next generations to also follow their dreams,” Mr Craven said.
The Children’s Hospital Trust CEO Chantal Cooper said: “We are deeply grateful to Madswimmer for their steadfast support in raising funds for our orthopaedic project at the Children's Hospital.”
