Winter, you've got nothing on Lac La Biche.
On Saturday afternoon, some brave – and possibly crazy – locals sawed a whole in Lac La Biche Lake and jumped into the frigid waters for the annual Polar Bear Dip.
The eight jumpers, all wearing festive Santa hats, edged towards the water and started counting down. Then it was time: eight bodies hit the icy water, followed almost immediately by high-pitched shrieking as grown men and women hurtled themselves out of the water and onto the ice like seals, sprinting towards the waiting heat of a nearby sauna.
The two original jumpers, Mike Dempsey and Jaime Laird, started the tradition back in 2003 while sitting in Laird's hot tub in Young's Beach.
"We thought it would be neat to cut a hole and jump in the ice,” Laird said.
Since then, it's become an annual event – despite the fact that the water was a bone-chilling two degrees Celsius Saturday. But the weather was relatively balmy compared to years past – the only year they didn't jump was when it was -39 out – and a couple dozen people gathered around a fire, roasting hot dogs and speculating on who was going to chicken out.
"I figure, this is how I know I'm going to live for the next year,” Dempsey laughed. "Because if there is any cholesterol in my arteries – I'm 53, I'm the oldest jumper – when I jump, if the cholesterol doesn't flow to my heart and kill me there, I know I'm good for another year!”
While it may all sound like madness, it's actually a well-honed science: November is the ideal month, as waiting any longer means cutting through three feet of ice – the ice last weekend was about a foot thick, perfect for dicing up with a chainsaw. Location is key as well. They picked a spot with about five feet of water – so you don't have to get your Santa hat wet, unless you want to.
The Polar Bear Dippers started on the hole at 10 a.m., cutting one big enough for a foolhardy group to cannonball into. And they set up Laird's portable sauna – essential to fend off hypothermia.
Laird and Dempsey, being the veterans in the group, had offered some advice to the four first-time jumpers.
"Don't think, just go,” Dempsey laughed.
It was a triumph of fun over common sense, and most importantly, a signal to Old Man Winter that northern Albertans can take whatever he can dish out.
"November is kind of a blasé month,” Dempsey said. "It's dark, it's cold – you have to do something fun.”
