CHILLY DIP
Polar bear plunge participants leap into icy waters in annual tradition
OGDEN DUNES — Chesterton High School Science teacher Boyd Gilbert led the group back and forth along the shoreline Thursday afternoon, carefully studying the conditions.
The quick blast of arctic air over the past several days has left an ice shelf along the shore, making the annual polar bear plunge what should’ve been a no-go. Ice shelves make it difficult to determine how deep the water is and makes it extra-treacherous on people’s feet, the self-proclaimed safety officer said as potential participants weighed the pros and cons of doing the annual dip in Lake Michigan to kick off the new year.
In the end, Gilbert’s diligence didnn’t matter much as one by one, the brave and crazy crew shed their clothes and headed into the frigid water. Gilbert shrugged.
“The lakeshore changes every season, so we decide each year if we’re going in,” he said. “Last year, we didn’t do it at all because the shelf was about 30 feet out.”
Born in 1999 by way of the inspiration of polar bear-shaped desserts, the annual plunge was a way for Elsie Anderson to keep her thenteenage children out of New Year’s Eve trouble. They could either drink and be ridiculous over Christmas break, she said, or they could go back to school and tell their friends they went swimming in frigid Lake Michigan.
Her plan worked, and since then, the group of mostly family members converges on Anderson’s house each Jan. 1 to partake in the tradition. And when the dip is done, the group heads back to Anderson’s to compete in the “Feats of Strength” around the “Festivus” pole.
This year, the “Feats of Strength” were going to be pushups, but they were changed to pull-ups at some point during the frozen trudge back to base camp, Anderson announced.
The biggest group of plungers happened a few years ago, when a group of exchange students from River Forest High School joined in. There were 40-plus people in that year.
“Not only were they crazy teens, but they were crazy teens who’d never seen snow,” Anderson said. “That one was a lot of fun.”
This year, 10 people took the plunge, including Carly Grow and Jimmy Gonzales, of Munster. Grow, a co-worker of Anderson’s, was disappointed at first when it looked like they wouldn’t be able to go in. Her boyfriend, Gonzales, was less so.
“I was reluctantly going to jump in,” he said, eyeing the angry waters.
But after ringleader Wade Anderson threw caution to the lake and went in, Grow and Gonzales followed. And they loved every frozen second.
“The only thing bothering me right now is my toes, but otherwise, it was great!” Grow said. “I’ve checked it off my bucket list, and I’ll definitely be back next year.”
Lori Lloyd, an Anderson cousin from Sycamore, Illinois, also was a first-timer to the plunge even though she was always the cousin who got talked into doing things before everyone else would try. She said she’d take the plunge over the ice bucket challenge of last summer any day.
“With the ice bucket challenge, it was, like, 85 degrees and humid, and when that ice hit, oh my God,” Lloyd said. “Here, the water was warmer than the outside, so as long as you had warm clothes to get back into, you were fine.”