A NEW LEVEL OF COLD

Even for regulars of the Polar Bear Plunge, 2018’s event was extreme

On any other day, Travis Snyder of Garfield would have been carted away by the proverbial men in white coats had he done what he did Monday morning. Which was this: Wearing a one-piece biking singlet with a scooped neck that dipped nearly to his waist, the 26-year-old who was raised in Moon leaped from the bank of the Monongahela River into its icy water. Why? “So I can say I did it,” he said simply. Most likely, he was speaking for the 150 or so other crazies who joined the ranks of “Pittsburgh polar bears” making the annual splash into the frigid Mon each Jan. 1.

In fact, Joe Zerebnick, 36, of Slickville, who took the plunge Sunday, said: “We like to do crazy stuff. We do all kinds of crazy stuff. We jump out of airplanes!”

So, why not jump into an icy river in wellbelow-freezing temperatures, right?

“Right,” said Mr. Zerebnick’s girlfriend, Megan Datsko, 32, of Latrobe. “Why not?”

She was dripping wet and wearing clothes that covered little more than would a twopiece swimsuit.

The annual Polar Bear Plunge into the Mon River dates to 1929. For the eighth year, the event was used as an opportunity to benefit the Salvation Army’s Project Bundle-Up, which purchases winter outerwear for the needy. The nonprofit was selling T-shirts.

Frank Nelson of North Huntington is president of the so-called “club.” The veteran jumper — Monday was his 53rd — acknowledged, “We don’t hold meetings or anything. We just show up for this.”

He said the 2018 foray was distinguished by the especially cold temperatures.

“I’d say this was the second coldest I can recall,” he said, remembering in 1973 or 1974 when the temperature was minus-3 with a wind chill that produced a feel-like temperature in the double-digits-below-zero.

For Monday, he rattled off the statistics: 7 degrees with a water temperature of 31 degrees. “Really cold,” he said, with a laugh.

Only 74 people “signed in” for the 2018 plunge, but Mr. Nelson estimated the number that actually went into the water was closer to about 150. (Many probably didn’t show up early enough or stick around long enough to sign the book; it was really cold, after all.) Another 150 or so people were in attendance to witness the stunts.

Mr. Nelson said he was a bit disappointed in this year’s numbers as well as in those who stayed away because of the bitter cold. “This is the kind of weather the Polar Bears should be about,” he said without even a hint of wry humor.

He said he and his friend, Paul Unglo III of Bethel Park — “one of the originals” — showed up at about 8 a.m. to break up some of the ice to create space for the jumpers.

“Ice cuts can really hurt you,” he noted.

He said he has a weight on a rope that he tosses into the river to drag the area for obstructions. Monday, when he tossed in the weight, “it just bounced off the ice,” he said.

That’s when they grabbed a few wooden 2x6s, about 8 feet long with a metal end, and began breaking up the ice.

By 9:50 a.m. — about 20 minutes after the first splash — nearly everyone had hightailed it out of there.

Frank Nelson, left, of North Huntingdon and president of the Polar Bear Club, and Carlos Schrader of Brookline react after jumping into the icy water on Monday.

Ed Sutter of South Park uses a boat oar move broken ice and clear an area for swimmers on the Mon Wharf.

Nicole Newman of Centerville yells as she is pulled by rope from the icy waters on Monday.

Dave Stzi, of Pleasant Hills and dressed as Elvis Presley, laughs with Kenny Dingler, of Belle Vernon and dressed as Evel Knievel, after seeing each other before the start of the Polar Bear Swim in the Monongahela River early Monday. It was Mr. Stzi's...

sunglasses as they try to get warm after participating in the Polar Bear Swim in the Mon. Pittsburgh police Chief Scott Schubert shares a laugh with Frank Nelson, of North Huntingdon and president of the Polar Bear Club, who is reflected in Chief...