Adventure swimming

After hiking 5 miles up the trail to Avalanche Lake in the High Peaks, four people stripped to swimsuits in the wind that kept passersby in down vests and parkas.

It was late August. The early morning air temperature had been somewhere in the mid-30s. The lake sits at 2,885 feet above sea level.

In the deep narrow cleft carved by glaciers between Colden and Avalanche mountains, it provided one of the most remarkable outings of their 2019 swim season.

While many thousands of people hike Adirondack trails in the summertime, the ranks of open-water swimmers are so far just a drop in the backcountry’s bucket. By one estimate, the hard core of adventure swimmers may number as few as 100, but their enthusiasm runs deep and they recruit.

“My God it was cold. And Cheryl and Tom—they probably swam a quarter to a half a mile,” Karen Byer recalled. “And Ben and I stayed in much longer. We didn’t do a mile. But