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PUDDLE JUMP 2023

T’was a warm day for the college’s annual Winter Carnival ritual

By Bates College

February 17^th, 2023

Setting up in the morning

Catie Luedee, coordinator of Outdoor Education and Programs for Student Affairs, creates a corridor of ice blocks leading to the hole in the Lake Andrews ice, about 9 inches thick.

All systems are go for the 2023 Puddle Jump on Feb. 10.

Approach

We’d love to say that it took great daring to do the dip this year, but the 52-degree afternoon lent a spring break vibe to the whole affair.

The tradition was founded by Christopher Callahan ’78, Scott Copeland ’78, Lars Llorente ’78, and Mark Stevens ’77, who cut a hole in the ice on Lake Andrews and took a bracing St. Patrick’s Day dip in 1975. It’s been going strong since, with a year off due to the pandemic in 2021.

1975 was all about “exuberance at the end of a hard winter,” according to Callahan, who says they were influenced by the famous New Year’s Day swim by the L Street Brownies, they of South Boston’s Irish-Catholic community.