Featured Image Credit: Ian Derry
By Kira Krall
In 2010, Johanna Nordblad broke her leg in a cycling accident. Three years later, she was in danger of losing her leg to necrosis. Her doctor gave her an unusual prescription you won’t find in any drugstore: ice diving.
The ice therapy worked by slowing her metabolism, thus slowing the necrosis until the threat of it disappeared altogether. She began her remedy in the below-freezing water and in 2016, won an award for female longest swim under ice with no breathing apparatus and no fins. This record-breaking swim was a whopping 50 meters.
To celebrate her feat, Ian Derry filmed her swimming in the tranquil Arctic world. Watch the movie that premiered at the National Geographic Short Film Showcase below:
Ice diving is far riskier than your standard open water diving. The cold coupled with the inability to rise wherever you’d like makes freediving in ice treacherous territory. A safety team outfitted with every tool they need in the event of an emergency usually accompanies ice divers.
In the above video, you can see Nordblad’s breathing hole gradually start to freeze over in the -14° water. What’s more, she’s diving without a tether that would connect her to her only exit. Losing track of your hole in the ice is a terrifying reality for many ice divers. Nordblad’s ice experience is evident as she swims calmly through the near-freezing world.
Read more about Johanna and the film here.