Swimmers dash through snow to welcome the new year with an invigorating ‘polar bear' dip

By FINN J. JOHN
Gazette-Times reporter

At 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the water in the outdoor pool wasn't Titanic-class icy — although it was far from cozy.

But the water in the air made up for that. Drifting, swirling flakes of snow — at 30 degrees — kept the swimmers shivering nicely in the classic Polar Bear Swim Club tradition.

It was Corvallis' second annual New Year's Day polar bear swim at Osborne Aquatic Center. Each swimmer had to get in and swim a lap to "qualify"; afterward, hot cocoa awaited.

Corvallis High School swim team members Tara Carlson, Katherine Ingle and Malia Storie were getting ready for their plunge with a quick snowball fight on the pool deck. Big clumps of the white stuff were falling thick and fast all around.

Gayle Orner, just finishing up her swimming lap, said this was her second year finishing the polar bear swim.

"But I've lost 40 pounds of insulation since last year, so this is harder," she added.

She said she'll likely be back next year — although, she added, "it might be hard to get this kind of weather again. This is as good as it gets, weather-wise."

In the next lane over, Pat Faretto was playing in the water with his daughter, Mariah. It was Mariah's first polar bear swim.

"She liked it, but it gets cold," said Pat, after a chilled Mariah was helped out of the pool and into a warm jacket. "This pool isn't bad. That other one is just freezing."

The "other one" was the Otter Beach pool — the one with the water slide. Katherine was rocketing down that water slide, into the under-40-degree water, while Malia waited her turn; Tara had just gone.

The swim-team members were three of just a handful of swimmers who braved the icier waters of Otter Beach.

The tradition of polar bear swims dates back to 1920, when a man named Peter Pantages organized the Vancouver (British Columbia) Polar Bear Swim Club. The swimmers got ready in the basement of the Sylvia Hotel, then went out and took a plunge in icy English Bay.

Since then, Vancouver's New Year's Day Polar Bear Swim has swelled to thousands of participants, and similar clubs have popped up all over. Many people don't bother with club membership, simply marking the New Year with an informal, spectator-free dip in an icy mountain lake.

It's all left many spectators — and more than a few participants — playfully questioning the participants' sanity.

"The snow makes this swim just perfect," said Pat as he got ready to climb out of the pool, his chin shaking from the chill. "Perfectly insane, that is."