Four gutsy locals saw Tuesday’s (June 29) icy weather not as a chance to stay home by the fire, but rather an opportunity to take a dip in Lake Wānaka as snow around town started thawing after Monday’s snowfall. 

They are part of an unofficial subset of the Wanaka Lake Swimmers group who aren’t put off by the lake’s winter temperatures.

Wanaka Lake Swimmers president Camille Gulick, who even braved Tuesday’s swim without a wetsuit, said there were now 10 or so members who swim in the lake during the winter.

“This year we have a bigger group going out around two or three times a week,” she said. 

Timing the swims for optimum conditions is important, Camille said. 

“If you’re putting up with very cold water you want ideal conditions in everything else,” she said. 

Despite the colder temperatures, winter swimming conditions can often be better than they are in summer.

“Wanaka summers can be very windy and choppy and a winter’s day can be still and sunny.”

Still, swimming in winter is not for the faint of heart - and coming out of that cold water into the cool air can be a shock. 

Camille said she had an event coming up called the Ice Mile, and winter swims in a bathing suit helped her prepare.

“It’s an internationally recognised swim where you swim in water which is less than five degrees celcius and the goal is to do one mile,” she said. 

But among the group there are no rules about what to wear - some swimmers don full wetsuits plus booties and gloves.

“Everyone has different motivators,” Camille said. “Some people want all the gear to keep themselves warm just because they’re enjoying continuing to swim.”

People swim in winter for a variety of reasons, and it might be as a mental health boost or because they get a buzz from a cold dip.

And Tuesday’s conditions, with the snow still visible around Wanaka, made it “kind of like that perfect winter afternoon with sun and a flat lake”.

PHOTO: Wanaka App