The Polar Plunge
Feb 17th, 2007 by John Setzler
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
The Polar Plunge is the first event of its kind in my area that I’m aware of. I have seen things like this on TV before, but never locally. This event was organized as a fund-raiser for the Special Olympics. People gathered on the shore of Lake Hickory around lunch time today to participate in the event. In this photo, members of Lenoir-Rhyne College’s Pi Kappa Phi fraternity take the plunge along with their $2000 contribution to the Special Olympics. The temperature at the time of the plunge was about 35 degrees with 5-15 mph winds to accompany the cold.
I like this image. I’ve done the polar bear thing in an inadvertent way and I can totally appreciate the feeling.
Don’t get me wrong, I would never do it just for the heck of it, but I was once prompted to jump into the Buffalo river in Feb (while fully clothed, no less) in order to retrieve a lost paddle so that a buddy and I might be better able to continue our week long sojurn down this lovely river. It was COLD. Powerful cold.
We may have been able to catch up to the paddle otherwise, but you never know. And we were only 3 days into an 8 day trip at the time.
Regards,
-Michael