As I stare down into the icy blue current, goosebumps rise on my bare arms and legs. Everything in my body is telling me it doesn’t want to go in there. It’s all about mind over matter.
READ MORE: Check out #75 on the Ultimate Tahoe Winter Bucket List
I take in a few deep breaths while I look over the serene landscape of my private swimming hole hidden below the crumbling igneous cliffs of the Truckee River Canyon. Cottonwoods sway in the gentle breeze as a pair of Canada geese fly north on the rising drafts of morning air. Clumps of snow cling stubbornly to the banks.
I jump, diving out in a shallow arc into the water. The shock of the cold hits a half second later as I glide through the spinning current.
I look back at the swirling blue hole and steel my mind for the what’s to come — for what I know I must do. For one brief moment, I will my legs to bend. I jump, diving out in a shallow arc into the water. The shock of the cold hits a half second later as I glide through the spinning current. I somehow feel safe in this cold, underwater world.
I emerge downstream in a large eddy and take a huge breath. Then I try to pretend like it’s not that cold for another minute or two before I get out on the shore to warm myself in the soft sunshine. A few minutes later my body is back to equilibrium and I feel like a new man.
People from around the world have long participated in winter swimming as a way to celebrate the New Year. The oldest ice-swimming club in the U.S. is the Coney Island Polar Bear Club whose members have braved the Atlantic Ocean outside of New York Harbor every Sunday of the winter since 1903.
Northern Europeans are fond of merging ice swimming with hot saunas. The combination of hot and cold is considered to have health benefits, especially for the circulatory system. Although winter swimming isn’t inherently dangerous for most healthy people, it should be done with caution by individuals with heart and respiratory diseases or high blood pressure because the cold-shock response can lead to hyperventilation or cardiac arrest in those not accustomed to it.
This classic tradition is coming back to Tahoe in March. The first chance to get your plunge on will be on March 3 at the 30th annual Polar Bear Swim at Gar Woods Grill & Pier in Carnelian Bay as part of SnowFest where men and women will compete in a 250-yard race through 39-degree F water at 6,223 feet above sea level for up to $300 in prize money.
Then on Saint Patrick’s Day, cold-water swimming enthusiasts will have the opportunity to dash across the beach at Zephyr Cove and dive headlong into the chilly waves of Lake Tahoe in order to raise money for the Special Olympics of Northern California and Nevada.
“The purpose of the South Lake Tahoe polar plunge is to support those children and adults with intellectual disabilities who participate in our year-round sports training programs,” says Special Olympics public relations and communications manager Tyler Krochmal. “It’s a fun way to bring the community together and put out the challenge of braving the elements in a way that directly impacts athletes all over Northern California and Nevada.”
The Special Olympics of Northern California and Nevada has more than 24,000 participants from age 8 through 80 in 14 different sports, says Krochmal.
This year’s theme is Saint Patrick’s Day, so expect a lot of teams and individuals to be wearing green or looking like waterlogged leprechauns.
“Almost everybody dresses up in zany outfits, which certainly adds to the experience of jumping in the freezing water in March,” she says.
Polar Bear Swim
March 3 | 2:30 p.m.
Gar Woods Grill & Pier | Carnelian Bay
Special Olympics Polar Plunge
March 17 | 12 p.m.
Zephyr Cove Resort | Zephyr Cove, Nev.
For more information or to register for either event, visit garwoods.com and sonc.org. Read more about the SnowFest winter carnival in this issue or at tahoesnowfest.org.
