It's official: The Pintler Polar Plunge is coming back to Silver Lake for first time in seven years

Plunge to return March 9 to benefit Special Olympics

No one can relate to the expression “jumping in with both feet” quite like Special Olympics Montana – and they’re getting ready to do exactly that as on Saturday, March 9 at 11 a.m. they and Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement are bringing the highly anticipated Pintler Polar Plunge back to Silver Lake for the first time since 2017.

“The Polar Plunge is a Law Enforcement Torch Run signature event. It is a unique opportunity for individuals, clubs, organizations and schools to support local Special Olympics Montana athletes by jumping, running or slowly crawling into the frigid and icy waters of Montana,” explained the Special Olympics Montana website.

Polar Plunges have become increasingly more popular over the years, not only for the Special Olympics but for other organizations as well, and have adopted fun and unique names to market their chilly events. 

The Anaconda team bringing it back to Silver Lake stuck with the original Pintler Polar Plunge name in recognition to the place where the magic happens. 

“We’re just excited to be back in Anaconda and hosting our fundraiser at Silver Lake. I know that the Special Olympics athletes and teams and officers in Anaconda are highly motivated to bring this event back and we’re just looking forward to having the Anaconda community out supporting us,” explained Amy Bliss, LETR Development Director for Special Olympics.

There are several hands on deck that have been instrumental in the planning of the event, including police officers Matt Ives and Joe Kitchel, as well as Kari Hosheid and Tana Everett with the Anaconda Public School District's Copperhead Special Athletes. Planners have just started advertising and set a goal of $15,000 for our local Special Olympics athletes. Ives is spearheading the campaign after being a prior participant while he was the School Resource Officer (SRO) at Anaconda Junior/Senior High School.

“I want to get it to where – I think we’re going do something, we’re just starting this again and it’s going to get better, obviously – but I’d like to have prizes or a competition for best costume or best jump. So I am recommending that people do wear costumes,” explained Ives.

Another possibility for the future would be a friendly competition between Butte and Anaconda – a rivalry that has been icy for years – but, as Ives said, “It’s for a good cause. It’s for the kids.”

“Last time we had it, because Butte didn’t have it, Butte came over here. So I mean, if Butte comes over here, if we get people from Butte, Philipsburg, from all around it’s going to be great,” he added.

In addition to restarting the Pintler Polar Plunge, Ives has another idea up his sleeves. 

“I think I’m going to take over on the torch run, where we’ll have the torch run here as well,” Ives said. “Deer Lodge will get it and they’ll run it to the rest area here, and we’ll take it to Butte.”

The last time Anaconda was actively involved in the torch run event was three or four years ago, according to Ives. 

“A lot of the guys got into it when we handed out the trophies to the Special Olympics athletes when they had their track meet this past summer. Some of the cops went there with me that haven’t done it before and they loved it. They were like, dude, we need to get into this. So, that’s where I was like yeah, let’s get it rockin',” Ives said.

“They’re awesome kids. I mean, when I was an SRO is when I really got into it seeing all these Special Olympics kids. And then I did the plunge as an SRO with the school with the Special Olympics in Butte. It’s amazing. It’s just an amazing thing to do. The kids really look forward to it. Just getting a medal from you just warms their heart and they love it. They don’t forget it. They hang on to it. I’ve heard stories of kids going from Special Olympics to when they become adults and they’re still getting all these trophies. They hang onto them for a lifetime. That’s why I want to get it back going big in Anaconda, because we have a great Special Olympic team here and a lot of good people that help out with it. So, we just get that ball rolling and all the community support, it’s going to be epic.” 

The application to either register or donate and complete details are available at gosomt.org/2024pintlerplunge. The cost is $125 for adults 18 and over and $50 for children/students. Registration is open until 15 minutes prior to the plunge. There will be prizes awarded to each level tier of donations.

The Anaconda Leader will continue to print updated information as it becomes available.