Member:Scott Tapley
Swim Date:02 Mar 2013
Location:Lake Tahoe, California, USA
Continent:North America
Ice Swim Info
Avg Water Temp:4.3°C
Temp Reading 1:4.30°C
Temp Reading 2:4.30°C
Temp Reading 3:4.30°C
Body of Water:Open Water
Fresh/Salt Water:Fresh Water
Open Water Mass:Lake
GPS Location:39.10° N 120.03° W
Support:Boat
Swim Distance:1.1000 miles
1.77km, Pace 125s/100m
Time Taken:0:36:52
Air Temperature:0.00°C
Wind Speed:0.00 km/h
Wind Chill:0.00°C
Swim Story
Inspired by ice swimmers Karen Rogers and Cathy Delneo, I teamed up with fellow ice swimmer Kim Rutherford to attempt an official ice swim during the winter of 2013. We got some great advice from Karen, Elaine K. Howley, and others. We began with several short swims in the 5 to 10 minute range in waters ranging from 37f to 40f. We worked our way up to about 20 minutes in 39f prior to our official swim. We chose Lake Tahoe as our venue because of its beauty, high altitude, and consistently cold temps during the winter. It was a bonus that I could swim and ski on the same day. We trained at Sand Harbor, Nevada, but chose to do our official ice swim in California. This was fun, because nobody had ever completed an official ice swim in California waters. The day of our swim high winds were predicted, but we awoke to perfect glass and temps around 38f to 40f. We quickly grabbed our crew and headed to the beach. We had a fantastic safety crew including paddlers, photographer, videographer, observers, and an EMT. We notified the fire department and hospital of our plans, and quickly set out to our mile before it warmed up. Both Kim and I successfully completed 1.1 miles in 39.8f water. It is still one of the toughest swims I\\’ve ever done.
To read more about this Ice Swim, please click the link below: