The Coulee Region has been Dippin' For a Decade, though I've only been Freezin' For a Reason since 2002. That was the year an acquaintance mentioned to me that she was not going to have anyone to take her photo when she plunged into a hole cut in the frozen over Black River... on purpose. Yep, I'm talking about the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics. I can't remember if I'd heard of it back then. It had been going on for a few years but, even if I'd heard of it, I hadn't given it much thought. But I had a digital camera and was always on the lookout for new things to photograph. So, that being before I had kids, I decided to wander down there on the spur of the moment and take some pictures of her and others.

I got there fairly close to the start and managed to get all the way down to where the gated area juts into the beach. It seemed like the best vantage point to take some photos and I had this crazy idea that I was going to take everyone's photo. I figured if one person had no one to take their photo, maybe there were more in the same boat. So, there I was, horribly unprepared for the bitterly cold weather, snapping away with my little digicam at everyone who plunged. Or trying to, anyway. There was a dude on the beach in a gorilla suit that kept getting in my way. Yup, a gorilla suit. Not only do people jump into a frozen river, they do it in costumes! It all seemed rather crazy to me, but I was getting some cool photos when the gorilla got out of my way. Unfortunately, I was also getting dangerously cold.

I was so unprepared for the weather because I thought I knew what to expect from this event. In Sheboygan, on January first every year, the Polar Bear club takes a swim in Lake Michigan. It's a huge event and I've seen it a few times. Everyone rushes into the water at once and then rushes back out, except the crazies that hang out for a while. It's over pretty fast. Not so here. As half an hour turned into an hour and then some, I began to wonder just how long this was going to take. I was wearing a thin pair of gloves and sneakers and my hands and toes began to freeze. Finally I asked someone how long it ran who said it went until three! Keep in mind, I got there around noon and it was about 15 degrees.

Well, I was obsessing as I tend to do and wanted a complete set of photos. So I stuck it out as long as I could. I think I made it until around 2:30 when I caved. My hands hurt so bad I couldn't take it anymore. One of the nice medical folks helping out took me into the ambulance to warm them up. They were very cold and swollen. If I had stayed out much longer I might have gotten frostbite. As it is, my hands have never been able to handle the cold again, not even a little. But I got a ton of photos, some of them even gorilla-free. Then I had to figure out how to get them to the plungers. Some asking around got me to Kerry G. who thanked me and even gave me one of the sweatshirts. It's a nice warm one and I wear it to the plunge every year.

So that's how I got started 6 years ago with a crazy, spur of the moment idea. That summer, I found and joined the La Crosse Area Camera Club and it turned out that they take photos of the Polar Plunge every year! Had I joined them sooner, I could have been down by the water taking the photos instead of stuck behind the gorilla. In the years that followed, I enjoyed being part of the camera club photo team and having full access to photograph where ever I wanted. That volunteer pass makes it much easier to get the good shots. I also have taken on the responsibility of collecting all the photos from the club and putting them together for the Special Olympics. You can check out last year's photos and this year's will be up early next week.

This year was the tenth year of the Polar Plunge and they passed one million dollars raised! That is an amazing amount of money and all the people who made it happen are really awesome. I'm so glad to be part of the team photographing this event. It's wonderful to see the community coming together for a good cause. Even with hot tubs waiting, jumping into the river is pretty intense. And some this year even did it ten times in honor of ten years!

The weather was beautiful for the plunge today. Not warm, of course, with temperatures in the 20s, but warm enough to make the time spent standing on the ice not totally unpleasant. The downside to warmer temperatures is the snow on the ice is slush so I wasn't able to get out as far as I'd like. A few braver folks went out farther for a better vantage point but I still managed some good shots. I took over 450 and there was at least 10 that really stood out for me. You can see a few of them here in this blog post. 10 out of 450 may not seem like much but shooting an event like this is more about quantity than quality. We want to make sure every plunger has at least one photo of themselves and preferably more than one. So it's a lot of fast shooting, trying to catch everyone. Between all of us shooting, we've got everyone well covered. So if you plunged, be sure to find yourself on the website. The photos are free.

After the Plunge comes the Post Plunge Party, held this year at Loons on La Crosse. Now that I have kids, I'm not able to make the party every year, so this is the first year I've made it since they switched away from having it at the Brewery. I must admit, I liked it better at the Brewery. I had to park a block away and walk on extremely ice covered sidewalks to get there. Then I had to go through a smokey bar to get back to the room where the party was. It was extremely crowded and so noisy I was hoarse from trying to talk to people. Being a party, the light wasn't great for photography so I didn't get much, but I did get some.

Overall, it's been a great 7 years photographing the crazybrave folks jumping in the river to raise money for a great cause. I look forward to many more years hanging out on the ice watching and recording you all.