Plunging into freezing water in the heart of winter might sound like torture to some, but to the brave thrill-seekers at Winter Carnival's annual polar bear swim on Occom Pond, it's an experience they say they would never be the same without.
"It's the ultimate winter tradition and challenge," Kaitlin Jaxheimer '05 said. "I feel like my Dartmouth experience wouldn't be complete without doing it."
Despite the face that the annual tradition is less than a decade old, the swim has quickly become an eagerly anticipated highlight of Winter Carnival, attracting crowds of up to 300 students each year.
"Most people react with shock the instant their body touches the water, but you actually get used to it after a second or two -- although that doesn't mean you want to stay in," event chair Paul Pope '05 said. Pope first took the plunge his freshman year.
In addition to the customary hot chocolate at the Native American house, participants in the event can look forward to a few changes in honor of this year's "Peter Pan" Carnival theme.
"The ice cubes removed from the pond will be stacked to form a wall sort of around the hole, and a part of the ice will project out into the rectangle with a wooden plank above it, hopefully, to create the appearance of walking the plank," Pope said.
Though the swim is centered about fun, concerns about safety take precedence in the planning and execution of the event.
"There's a lot of considerations that go into ensuring peoples' safety, whereas other events just kind of run themselves," Carnival co-chair Whitney MacFadyen '07 said, stressing the importance of guarding against hypothermia and frostbite.
To guarantee the event runs smoothly, trained EMT personnel and several Safety and Security officers will be present, as well as a number of volunteers. Still, potential danger does little to dampen the enthusiasm of excited students.
"Penguins do it, so why not, right?" Chad Gorbatkin '08 said.
