Swiss man endures freezing temps to spend longest time in full body contact with snow

Snowflakes were falling gently over the icy hills and hibernating forest in Andermatt, Switzerland, while Elias Meyer was laying facedown on the ground getting shovels of snow piled on to his back. 

The Swiss competitive powerlifter was used to freezing winds dropping the temperature to 3ºC (37.4ºF), and the numbing bite of the snow on exposed skin, but he wanted to prove to others that the “body is capable of incredible things” – so last year he researched the longest time spent in direct full body contact with snow.

What he discovered was that no human has been recorded spending more than two hours submerged naked in such a freezing environment – the most recent attempt by Valerjan Romanvoski (Poland) in 2022 lasted for 1:45:02.  

So on 2 April 2024, he donned his swim shorts, grabbed a towel and some of his loved ones, and began attempting a world record by the side of a road in Switzerland. 

Although humans can adapt to cold weather and even train themselves to tolerate the bitter temperatures better, there is still a risk of hypothermia while competing in these challenges – so Elias made sure to have a hospital and an emergency team nearby, alongside observers who continually monitored his internal body temperature and his health.

Yet remarkably, the powerlifter looked unphased as he knelt into the snowbank and waited as piles of snow rained down on him from the shovel.

Before long, there was a mound of snow the size of an igloo covering Elias’s entire body, measuring over one metre tall!

From the back, his body was completely concealed by the snow, and all that was visible was his face and a peek of his mustache above the pile of ice.

Throughout the attempt, Elias almost looked like he was sleeping on a bed of snow – facedown, his head resting on the towel, he would close his eyes while lost in thought, perhaps contemplating his incoming record title (or how unbelievably cold he was).

Yet after an astonishing 2:00:07, Elias emerged shakily from the snowpile as a record holder, feeling accomplished (and freezing)!

“The heavy snow pressed me down, causing my shoulders and elbows to ache. Perhaps you also feel a sharp ice cube against your back, with no chance to do anything about it, you can only be thankful, thankful for everything,” he said in a post on Instagram after taking the title.

And he even revealed that he would’ve gone for longer if he didn’t have to travel home, saying there is “much more to come”.

So congratulations, Elias, for this Officially Amazing feat – it’s snow-joke!