| Location: | Anchorage |
It was not to last - as we made our way to meet David, who had offered to conduct an ancient Indian sweat lodge ceremony that evening, the weather became cold, rainy and very windy. David is a native American Indian and performed the traditional ceremony for us to help us and give us strength and focus, as we were about to embark on a big journey.
Enclosed within the tiny lodge made of willow and skins, ten of us sat in a circle around the fire pit, waiting for the cermemony to start, as large lava rocks heated on a open fire were pushed into the middle and started to give off great heat. Although traditionally it was done naked, were did wear minimal clothing.
As the heat increasing the door is closed and we began the four stages of sweating. It was an intensely spiritual experience, where we all offered prayers and traditional songs, and within the heat and the darkness, allowed us to prepare our thoughts and focus for the coming challenge.
It represented a new stage in our preparation for the world record, as it marked the last steps of the countdown and the start of new roads for us to travel up to the north.
