NPR Scholar Podcast Challenge: Chilly Weather Swimming

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

As the climate turns chilly in a lot of the north, perhaps it is time to bounce in an icy river and go for a swim, or perhaps not. Instead, let’s simply go together with Eliza Dunn, a scholar at Dartmouth College, who took the plunge final winter within the Connecticut River.

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, “BRAVE SOULS”)

ELIZA DUNN: I’m at a ship launch simply off of Route 5 in Norwich, Vermont. It’s late February, and it is bitter chilly.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Woo.

DUNN: Alongside three different girls, I’m on the point of go for a swim.

ALLIE EVANS: So I got here wearing, like, a wearable blanket, sweatpants, wool socks and tennis sneakers, with my bathing swimsuit underneath.

DUNN: This is Allie Evans, one of many members of an Upper Valley cold-water dipping group referred to as the Brave Souls. The different girls listed here are additionally buried underneath layers of clothes. But when it is time to swim, all of them strip right down to bathing fits. Before I do know it, they’re wading into the river, pushing away floating blocks of ice.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Shouting) Woo. Woo.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Laughter) OK.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Do not fall in any respect. It’s simply unattainable.

DUNN: The timer begins – three minutes on the clock. When I discovered concerning the Brave Souls right here within the Upper Valley, I knew I wanted to affix them for a dip.

AMY GREEN: But on these actually cool days, we have needed to, like, form of break by means of the ice to have the ability to get into the water. We simply crushed proper by means of it (laughter).

DUNN: This is Amy Green. Amy basically serves as the primary organizer of the Brave Souls, despite the fact that she simply moved to Norwich over the summer time from northern Vermont. And not lengthy after that, she roped in her new buddy Kendra, who’s additionally fairly new to the Upper Valley.

KENDRA LITTNER: Kendra Littner – I reside in Hanover, New Hampshire. When I went for the primary time, I knew nothing. I did not know you keep there for 3 minutes, which is insane.

DUNN: Amy and Kendra have very totally different takes on what occurs subsequent.

LITTNER: When I’m going in, the moment ache is horrible. Like, what are you doing?

GREEN: I like to only – like, I take within the magnificence, after which I’m all the time simply reminding everyone, like, look how – like, distract your self.

LITTNER: I really feel like Amy is all the time like, oh, flip to the sundown, sundown. She’ll be like, look, we’re right here, and the solar is shining – like, very calm enjoyable stuff. Makes me need to punch within the face.

(Shouting) Wah. Oh, truly, the face did not really feel that unhealthy.

GREEN: Oh, and the wind picked up for this (laughter).

LITTNER: Yeah. I just like the swim. I like getting that…

(SOUNDBITE OF ALARM)

DUNN: And then, the timer goes off. The Brave Souls have been within the water for a little bit over three minutes.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)

GREEN: Yes. (Shouting) Woo.

LITTNER: When you get out, like, it is virtually like simply having, like, a rush of caffeine or a rush of adrenaline. Like, you are identical to, sure. And I really feel like, simply tremendous – I need to say completely satisfied. Like, your physique simply form of, like, feels so good. Like, you’ve got achieved one thing for your self.

GREEN: (Laughter).

DUNN: So how’s everybody feeling?

LITTNER: Great.

GREEN: Oh, wonderful. I really feel energized and surprisingly not chilly but.

DUNN: At first, it was that post-dip feeling that stored them coming again to dip. But now, after months of constant dipping, each Amy and Kendra say it is greater than the sensation that retains them going.

GREEN: I actually suppose it is about being with different folks.

LITTNER: The group is – they’re nuts. I would like nuts. Nuts retains me going. This is one thing it – I do not know what it does, however it’s undoubtedly introduced me nearer to those that I, once more, would have by no means met.

DUNN: And by means of all of it, right here within the Connecticut River, they’ve solid a way of dwelling. And not simply in a traditional means – in a loopy, breathless, shrieking, cursing form of means. And on the finish of each dip, the Brave Souls bundle again up. They crank the warmth of their automobiles, and so they promise one another that they’re going to be again subsequent week.

GREEN: Woo.

DETROW: That story was from the NPR College Podcast Challenge finalist Eliza Dunn. The 2025 contest is now open for entries.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript supplied by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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