A winter swimmer enjoys icy water in the Moskva river
© AFP Maxim Marmur

MOSCOW (AFP) - Half a dozen other swimmers hurry, breath steaming, to the dark rectangle of water hacked from the ice-covered Moscow river. An AFP reporter is invited to join.

"In you go. Left, right, left, right!" roars ex-paratrooper Grebyonkin, 65. "Now submerge! Once, twice, three times. Out!"

First the cold is painful. Then numbing. Then burning, blinding and deafening. Finally: a sensation of disorientation, weightlessness and dazed pleasure.

Welcome to the life of the "morzhy," or walruses, who this weekend celebrated the long-delayed arrival of winter in the European part of Russia by plunging into frozen rivers, ponds and lakes.

Critics, including many doctors, warn that ice swimming is dangerous. Water temperatures of two to four degrees C (36-39 degrees F) can kill within 30 minutes.

Winter swimmers walk in icy water in the Moskva river
© AFP Maxim Marmur

But ice swimming, popular from Canada to China, is part of the mythical Russian soul. Orthodox believers mark the Epiphany, a Christian feast day celebrated on January 6, with ice dips, while day-to-day devotees describe it as nothing short of a way of life.

"Slavs have been doing this kind of thing forever -- going out to roll in the snow, or celebrating Epiphany at the monasteries," Grebyonkin said. "Our forefathers fought the cold, so it's in our genes."

Grebyonkin, president of the Russian Winter Swimming Federation, says there are between one and two million Russian "morzhy." That includes members of about 50 clubs dotted around Moscow's riverbanks, ponds and canals.

And even if they look insane, there's method in the madness.

Winter swimmers walk in icy water in the Moskva river
© AFP Maxim Marmur

A survival expert and long-distance swimmer, Grebyonkin explains that extreme cold forces blood from the body's extremities to the heart and other vital organs in an instant cleansing process.

Then, as the swimmer climbs out, he says, "the temperature inside the chest rises to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). This is very brief, 15 to 20 seconds, but enough to kill viruses and germs."

Even better, the shock also releases a flood of adrenaline and endorphins -- natural chemicals that doctors say deliver a drug-like high similar to the sensations experienced during orgasm.

"You're flying when you get out," says Liliya Bezrukova, another of the regular "morzhy."

Club members gleefully recount how weekly, even thrice weekly dips can cure almost any ill.

Vladimir Grebyonk swims in icy water in the Moskva river
© AFP Maxim Marmur

One woman who was told she could not bear children joined the "morzhy" and gave birth to twins three years later. Gribyonkin almost had to leave the army because of health problems 28 years ago, but took up ice swimming, got better -- and rose to colonel.

"When my neighbours catch flu, they take three weeks to get fit, while I'm better in four to five days," boasted veteran walrus Klavdia Demicheva, 77, a retired doctor.

In a country where rampant alcoholism, poor diet, and violence fuel a yearly drop of 700,000 in the current 142-million-strong population, the clean-living walruses stand out.

But not everyone believes in the "morzhy" miracle.

"I think it's not as good as they claim. It does more harm than good," neurologist Nadezhda Sheyina said.

According to Sheyina the shock can destroy some people's ability to stand cold. "When you and I are in T-shirts, they'll be in overcoats."

Other dangers are said to include heart attack and addiction to adrenaline, ultimately wearing out the adrenal gland, with further repercussions to sexual functions.

The walruses, though, think they are the luckiest people in the world.

"I'm 77," says Demicheva, eyes sparkling behind a giant pair of reading glasses. "But in my soul, I'm always 26."

©AFP