(LaPorte, IN) - For some people in La Porte, “Livin’ the Lake Life” went to a chilly extreme Friday.

About half a dozen hearty souls started off the New Year with a polar plunge into Stone Lake.

 

It’s become an unofficial annual event for many locals, but numbers were down this year due to the treacherous weather.  In fact, initial plans were scrapped due to ice covering both Stone and Pine Lakes.

 

La Porte resident Carlos Mendoza organized this year's outing via Facebook.  While hoping to break through some of Friday's ice, he quickly realized conditions were better for skating than for swimming. 

 

But Megan McCulloch of La Porte would not be denied.  She led the charge to a small spot of open, but frigid, water on the south side of Stone Lake.  “Today was difficult because we had to go to three locations to find some open water, but it was well worth it,” she said. “Weather is always an iffy thing, and we pulled it off this year.”

 

McCulloch says she’s been taking the New Year’s ice plunge since 2012.  Last year the group hit a high water mark of twenty participants.