SaunaScape

Image of the world-record sauna session at Maximare

Yesterday was Guinness World Records Day for 2010, and for the fourth year in a row a new record was set for most nationalities in a sauna.

Maximare in Hamm, Germany gathered 130 people from 91 countries in their sauna. The sauna session lasted for 5 minutes at a rather mild 60°C (140°F). To make the photo press-friendly, each participant wore a t-shirt showing their nationality instead of the standard sauna attire. Guinness is expecting to certify the record next week.

On the 2009 Guinness World Record day, the University of Finland gathered people from 76 countries in their sauna. This broke a run of records by the Japanese: 57 nationalities in Beppu city in 2008, 50 nationalities in Nagoka in 2007 and 38 nationalities in Kobe in 2005.

Therme Erding near Munich also participated in the Guinness World Records Day, adding 7 new records. Five of the records were for longest distance traveled in a water slide in a set period of time, including Stephanie Hammers who broke the women’s 24-hour record by sliding over 100km (62 miles). One was for the largest swimwear fashion show, with 268 participants. Their Magic Eye water slide also took home a record for the longest enclosed water slide at 365 meters long (1,198 ft).

All of these records should be published in the Guinness World Records 2011.

Yesterday was Guinness World Records Day for 2010, and for the fourth year in a row a new record was set for most nationalities in a sauna. Maximare in Hamm,...

Sauna Times Sauna open for all in Minneapolis

Sauna Times has placed their mobile sauna at Uncommon Gardens in Minneapolis, MN for the holiday season. This Saturday, November 20, the sauna will be fired up for all to try. From the looks of this weekend’s weather, the high will be a balmy 31°F (-0°C). Bring your swimsuit and sandals.

Glenn assures me that Uncommon Gardens is only a $25 cab ride from MSP airport if you’re planning on flying in for the occasion.

Steam of Life Screening in Toronto

Canada’s National Film Board and the Consulate of Finland will be screening the film Steam of Life at the Toronto Mediatheque at 7pm on November 24. Steam of Life is Finland’s entry for the foreign language Oscar for 2011. We posted about Steam of Life in September.

Sauna or Steam Room?

FitSugar is looking for your comments on whether you prefer the sauna or steam room. Stop by and show them some love.

The Smell of Snow

Author Laura Munson posted a piece on The Huffington Post yesterday called The Smell of Snow describing the first sauna of the season in Montana. It’s well worth the read if you haven’t come across it yet.

Image by timo_w2s via Flickr Sauna Times Sauna open for all in Minneapolis Sauna Times has placed their mobile sauna at Uncommon Gardens in Minneapolis, MN for the holiday season....

A competitor at the SaunaWM competition 2010. Photo by SaunaWM

On October 17, the second annual Sauna WM or Sauna World Cup was held at Therme Aqualux in Fohnsdorf, Austria. Unlike the Finnish version that ended in tragedy this year, this competition in the words of the organizers,

Pleasure is the main goal, the enjoyment and indulgence, and the technique of waving the towel in the sauna. The best fragrance, the right dosage, the matching comment, maybe also a good joke at the right moment – all this and much more can create the best Sauna-Aufguss. We are looking for the most enjoyable Sauna Aufguss, the best “Wachler” (waver) or most talented Saunameister, we are looking for the Sauna world champion.

The competition was open to anyone in attendance at Therme Aqualux. Judging was carried out by the normal patrons in attendance in the sauna. Each member of the “Sit and Sweat Jury” in the sauna while the Aufgussiers were performing was given a full cup of water. Each jury member could pour as much of their water as they wanted into a measuring cup for the Aufgussier. The one with the greatest volume of water was declared the winner.

Italian Andreas Kofler was given the World Cup. Second place went to Benjamin Gaudreau from Germany. In third place was Günter Huther from Austria. There were 25 competitors in total.

A second competition was also run: Who could generate the most wind from a spinning towel. The winner among the 230 participants was Christian Govi generating a speed of 11.79 meters per second, or over 26 miles per hour. To ensure fairness, a local university brought their instruments to measure the speed.

Of course, as is customary in the saunas in a German-speaking region, the entire competition done in the nude.

Sauna WM via The German Herald

On October 17, the second annual Sauna WM or Sauna World Cup was held at Therme Aqualux in Fohnsdorf, Austria. Unlike the Finnish version that ended in tragedy this year,...