PRAGUE, Jan. 12-- Dressed in sleeping bags, Czech globetrotter and adventurer Marek Simicek successfully stayed for record eight hours in minus 100 degrees Celsius in a cryo chamber on Monday night.

39-year-old Simicek decided to test his physical and mental endurance, hardened by several hiking trips around the Baikal area. He entered the special chamber at 14:00 in the afternoon and left it at 22:00 in a good health condition.

Wearing a T-shirt, a pullover sweater, a pretty good down anorak and a fur cap, he entered the chamber with two special sleeping bags. Before Monday's try, he increased the number of the insulating layers to protect his body from the frost.

A doctor examined Simicek thoroughly before the experiment, and experts fixed sensors on his body to monitor his life functions such as the pulse, temperature and breath. The challenge would be stopped if Simicek's bodily temperature dropped by three degrees. Simicek could communicate with people via a mobile phone and a walkie-talkie.

Anaesthesiologist Lubomir Smuk, who monitored the unusual experiment, said that Simicek had been well prepared for it. He said Simicek had several times slept in extreme conditions with temperatures at 60-80 degrees below zero somewhere in Siberia.

Experts will evaluate the behaviour of Simicek's body in the extreme conditions.