{"id":14147,"date":"2026-01-02T23:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T06:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dave-and-friends-annual-polar-bear-plunge-draws-adventurous-thrill-seekers\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:44:16","slug":"dave-and-friends-annual-polar-bear-plunge-draws-adventurous-thrill-seekers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dave-and-friends-annual-polar-bear-plunge-draws-adventurous-thrill-seekers\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave and Friends annual Polar Bear Plunge draws adventurous thrill-seekers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Polar
Polar Bear Plungers dash out of cold Lake Farmington water on New Year\u2019s Day. David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

On a gray, bone-chilling New Year\u2019s afternoon, more than 150 fearless locals hurled themselves into a 40-degree lake \u2014 not just for the adrenaline jolt but to launch the year with solidarity and generosity.<\/p>\n

Plunge organizer Dave Dailey, who started the event five years ago, said, \u201cI can\u2019t do anything alone and my friends are the same.\u201d The idea sparked, and they agreed to make it happen as a fundraiser for local nonprofits.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, it\u2019s exhilarating, like a new year, a new start. It felt really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my goodness, I lost my breath. It was intense,\u201d said Kimberly Willie, who took the plunge two years ago.<\/p>\n

\"Polar
Polar Bear Plungers hit the water. David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Organizer Haleigh Bassing, who\u2019s taken the plunge for the past five years, said hitting the cold water is \u201cjust a flash, like your body goes into shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a good way to start the year,\u201d said Bassing. \u201cTo get people from our community to come out and support a nonprofit on the first day of the year and donate money. It\u2019s just like everybody is doing it together, jumping in together. So good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bassing said when Dave first suggested jumping in the lake on New Year\u2019s, she thought he was crazy. But the idea became reality on New Year\u2019s Day 2022.<\/p>\n

\"Dave
Dave Dailey, Polar Bear Plunge organizer. David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Magan
Magan Vigil. David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The informal group, known as Dave and Friends, has raised money for a different nonprofit each year. This year\u2019s beneficiary was Theater Ensemble Arts, the local community theater.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Bassing said 200 signed waivers and about 150 took the plunge.<\/p>\n

Melissa Stewart, who has taken the chilly plunge for the last four years, said, \u201cIt\u2019s always rejuvenating. I love it. It\u2019s always a refresh for the new year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart, attending with her husband Paul Arthur Stewart III, who was dressed as Buddy the Elf, said it was colder this year, so she was in and out of the water more quickly.<\/p>\n

Part of her inspiration was to support the community, Stewart said.<\/p>\n

\"Organizer
Organizer Haleigh Bassing. David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Brandon
Brandon Alexander. David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Brandon Alexander, one of the last to exit the frigid water, laughed and said it was \u201cvery exhilarating\u201d when he hit the water.<\/p>\n

A first-time plunger, Alexander said he felt it in his feet first and then slowly in the rest of his body. His inspiration was to \u201cget stuff off my mind and try and start new.\u201d<\/p>\n

His resolution is to \u201cstart new from Day 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Alcon, a first-time plunger and the last man standing in the water, said it felt \u201cgreat\u201d when he hit the water. \u201cThe longer you stay in the more you acclimate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alcon said he was in the water for about 10 minutes. \u201cI swam around and it kind of warms you up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inspiration for showing up was \u201cto stay alive,\u201d he said. \u201cI like to do the cold water; it\u2019s supposed to be good for you, your circulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joe
Joe Alcon. David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tim
Tim Ulrich was in the water for about 10 minutes. David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Tim Ulrich, who was also in for about 10 minutes, said he\u2019s done the plunge every year and has been working his way up to longer stints in the water. Ulrich said the Wim Hof method was his original inspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you get past about five minutes then it\u2019s not so bad,\u201d Ulrich said. \u201cThe problem is with the toes the longer you stay out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ulrich said he planned to go warm up and get something to eat.<\/p>\n

Dailey said this year, with the colder, rainy weather, the people who showed up were \u201cmore die-hard.\u201d He said more would likely have shown up had it been sunny.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the community and it\u2019s fun just to be able to do something nice that people enjoy,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we can be silly and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farmington plunge was simply \u2018exhilarating!\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-14147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14147"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19353,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14147\/revisions\/19353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14147"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=14147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}