Next Monday, a select handful of hardy Adventurists will be taking on the Pioneers Ice Run. In the last blog we showed some of the more unusual and extreme preparation techniques teams have been using to acclimatise themselves to the cold. The above clip has been dug out from the test run footage last March showing the absurd number of layers that Horatio deemed necessary in such chilly conditions.

Just how cold will it be?

Last week at the finish line in Salekhard the temperature hit a frost-bitingly low -34°C at night, at those temperatures boiling water turns to snow instantly. However, the forecast for the launch day on the 13th Feb is currently a toasty -18°C which is t-shirt, shorts and a pair of moccasins territory. Weather predictions in that part of the world are as changeable as an overexcited chameleon in front of the tele though, so keep an eye on AccuWeather Salekhard to see what the teams are dealing with.

Effects on the human body

We've been phoning around for days trying to find an expert to provide his knowledgeable opinion on the effects of extreme cold on the human body but alas, to no avail.

Feeling slightly desperate we decided just to phone university lecturers with appropriate sounding names such as Dr. Rudolph Winter a senior physics researcher at Aberystwyth University, Dr. Frost of Cambridge University with 'immunological areas of interest' apparently... and even Dr. Tracy Freeze - Assistant Professor of Percussion & Percussion Ensemble. Unfortunately, they all seemed to think we'd got the wrong number. Not really sure why, anyway onwards and upwards... we shall keep trying.

Follow the teams live

We'll be posting updates on the blog throughout the adventure so if you'd like to know who's just taken an unintentional dip in the River Ob or frozen their you-know-whats to their something-elses then return to The Jibber.