As the calendar year moved into 2022, winter-swimming enthusiasts took part in multiple events, including Coney Island’s Polar Bear Plunge, Edinburgh’s Loony Dook, and several Christmas Day swims and New Year’s Day dips. Many of these organized events returned this year after being on hiatus last year because of COVID-19 restrictions. Gathered below are recent images of chilly fun being had at lakes and beaches across the Northern Hemisphere.
Starting the Year With an Icy Swim
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People leave the water after participating in a traditional New Year's Day swim at Blackrock Diving Tower during severe wind, in Galway, Ireland, on January 1, 2022. #
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Loony Dook swimmers take to the waters of the Firth of Forth in South Queensferry, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, on January 1, 2022, as they celebrate the new year with an icy dip. #
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Participants, dressed in costumes, run into the North Sea as they participate in the New Year's Dip charity fundraising event in South Bay, Scarborough, in northeast England, on January 1, 2022. #
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Participants enjoy the Christmas Day swim across the harbor on December 25, 2021, in Weymouth, England. About 450 swimmers were watched by thousands of people lining the harbor to witness this annual Weymouth & Portland Lions Club event. #
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Three girls dressed as bunches of grapes jump for their friend as they enjoy the Lyme Lunge New Year's Day swim on January 1, 2022, in Lyme Regis, England. The Lyme Lunge, organized by the Lyme Regis Rotary Club, has become an annual tradition in which hundreds of swimmers wear costumes to raise money for charity. #
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People march to the beach to plunge during the first swim of the year at M Street Beach in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 1, 2022. Plungers joined in with the L Street Brownies, a group that has been swimming year-round almost every day, no matter the weather, for more than a hundred years, for the first swim of the year. #
Joseph Prezioso / AFP / Getty -
A group of revelers wearing New Year's hats and glasses run into the water as hundreds of people take to the 44-degree-Fahrenheit ocean water at M Street Beach in Boston. #
Joseph Prezioso / AFP / Getty -
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