This weekend voting gets underway for one of the most unusual contests you’ll find anywhere in the world: the Takhini Hot Springs Hair Freezing Contest.
If you’re scratching your head here, I’ll explain: Takhini Hot Springs is a set of natural springs in Whitehorse, Yukon.
That’s in northwest Canada, and it gets cold there in the winter. Average air temperatures at night are well below zero.
Wet hair in extremely cold temperatures can get really wild.
Everything freezes – hair, mustaches, beards, eyelashes, and eyebrows – and in place, too, complete with big ice crystals in many cases.
In 2011 visitors to the springs began trying to outdo each other with photos of their frozen hair.
Anyone who wants to participate goes into the pools, wets their hair, waits for it to freeze (it takes a bit of time) and then signals for staff to come and take their picture.
The contest raises money for a food bank in Whitehorse.
But there are also prizes for the winners, including $2000 and free trips to the hot springs –
In case you’re holding back on entering the contest because you’re worried about hair damage? The effect is purely temporary.
But definitely fun to see.
Another frozen event for you this weekend in Colorado, honoring a dude who has spends his afterlife surrounded by a great deal of dry ice.
The Frozen Dead Guys Days honors this man, known as Grandpa Bredo, with a festival that’s been described as the Mardi Gras of cryonics, complete with polar plunges and coffin races.
Takhini Hot Springs Hair Freezing Contest
Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon warms up even the coldest days
