Thrill- and chill-seeking British Columbians looking for an icy New Year’s Day plunge will be left to their own devices on Jan. 1, with several organized polar bear swims cancelled due to COVID-19.
Events in Vancouver, White Rock, Port Moody, Saanich and Peachland have been cancelled amid a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
“We just felt that with the various variants it wasn’t a great idea, even though we’re outside, to gather so many people together because it is such a huge event that people have been attending that we just wanted to keep our community safe,” Lisa Pantages, president of the Vancouver Polar Bear Swim, told CKNW’s Mornings With Simi.
The year 2022 will mark the second consecutive year COVID-19 has forced the cancellation of a number in-person polar bear swims.
Like in 2021, organizers of several of the events are urging would-be dippers to participate virtually if they still want to shock their way into the new year with an icy plunge.
“We actually were able to do it quite successfully last year — people can put all their passion and enthusiasm and creativity into their own kind of private swim,” Pantages said, adding she’d be doing her own plunge in a fish pond at home.
“We’re encouraging people to do it close to home. Last year we had …. people doing it in bathtubs. We had people jumping into giant kiddie pools. We, you know, whatever anybody creatively wants to come up to, we encourage it.”
Participants are being asked to take photos or videos of their dip in water that’s 7 C or colder and submit them to organizers and receive a Polar Bear Swim Club button.
Vancouver’s last in-person Polar Bear Swim, in 2020, was the 100th anniversary of the ritual known for brave souls and wacky costumes.
The White Rock Polar Bear Swim, the region’s other largest event, also made the tough call to switch to an online model for 2022.
Organizers of that event were similarly urging people to take their plunge at home at noon on Jan. 1, document it, and send it to organizers to get a certificate and chance for prizes.
As of Wednesday, polar bear swims in Kelowna, Summerland and Colwood appeared to be proceeding as scheduled.
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