A New Schroon Tradition: The Christmas Day Polar Plunge

Photo Courtesy: Amy Lyn

Call them crazy or cool – but 30 or so brave souls jumped into the lake at the Town Beach on Christmas Day.

It was the brainchild of David Peterson, who got the idea on Christmas Eve, inspired by Mother Nature’s crazy temperatures this week. Word spread through social media. 

From David: “WE DID IT! First Annual (if its over 50 degrees) Christmas Day Polar Bear Swim. I am not sure how many swam, at least 30. Looked like a few more than that watched. I wish I could give a trophy to each one. See you next year? Thanks everyone for a very fun day.

It was a blast! My watch said 51 degrees.  The water was very cold.”

And it didn’t take long for the amazing Marcia Toner to whip up a little art to commemorate this event!

Got photos? Share them with us by emailing them to schroonlaker@me.com

Say What?

Photo By Craig Kennedy, Schroon Lake Marina

By all rights, all boats and their owners should be safely winterized by now. For boats and other motorized watercraft that means being out of the water with fogged engines. For owners that entails sitting by a warm, toasty fire, with an adult beverage in hand. Mother Nature, are you kidding us – 61 degrees at midday?

The photo above is  from Schroon Lake Marina owner Craig Kennedy, who sent it to us with this taunting note:

"Hey buddy here is Schroon Lake today while on a boat ride! Merry Christmas".

And we hear there are plans underway for a Christmas Eve water skiing session on our lake, this very Christmas Eve! So while it’s kinda ok for this little warm spell, we sincerely hope for a brutal, bone chilling cold front to rip into the Adirondacks. That may help reset the weather clocks so we can get a couple of feet of the white stuff, for all of us winter sports lovers.

A big dump will of course be terrific news for those local businesses which will benefit from the Winter Sports Economy:  all of those restaurants on the snow mobile trials and local inns, B&Bs, and stores who accommodate the skiing, snow boarding and ice fishing crowds.

Have you seen those water skiers? Got other crazy Christmas photos to share? Send ‘em to us via email at schroonlaker@me.com.

Christmas & Holiday Cookie Exchange

‘Tis the seasonto bake, and that’s inspired us to present our first ever Christmas Cookie/Holiday Treat recipe exchange.  To make this work, we’ll need your recipes (and a photo if you have one handy!). We are getting the ball rolling sharing our favorite one bowl Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies, as well as contributions from Lisa Hess-Marks' outrageous Ting-A-Ling treats and Chamber Executive Director Tammy Whitty   Seven Layer Bar. These last two were featured in the North Wood Bread Company sponsored holiday treat fundraiser for the Chamber.

You can find out about all of these yummy goodies in our Food and Drink section. Meanwhile, email your recipes to us at schroonlaker@me.com.

Why We Love Gore

A year ago we hosted our Aussie Family for Christmas in Schroon. Our nephew, Loch Hughes, a budding filmmaker, then just 16, captured the fun on the slopes of Gore. Let's keep hoping that Mother Nature continues to contribute to the thick base of the white stuff Gore's snow makers and groomers, have accomplished so far. But snow making still remains a challenge, with high temperatures most certainly to wreck the record books.

Here’s the forecast from North Country Weather.

And here’s the latest from Gore: "We are open daily with 3.5 miles of terrain offering two runs down from Adirondack Express II!  Please note that conditions remain variable and open terrain is for intermediates and experts. Ticket prices today are $38 for adults, $29 for teens and seniors, and just $20 for juniors. Lift hours today are 10am-4pm. Special Notes: Trails have several areas of thin cover and/or bare spots, please be cautious and have fun while skiing with care".