Baptism by ice: Alaskans make annual plunge into frigid lake

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — More than a thousand people in Alaska dressed up as elves or in other elaborate costumes, while some stripped down to barely anything to take part in a polar plunge.

The fundraiser for Special Olympics Alaska took place Saturday at Goose Lake in Anchorage, where ice was cut from a large portion of the lake to allow the plungers room to do their favorite dive, like a cannonball.

People with intellectual disabilities sometimes are the most underserved, and when you have a thousand athletes coming out on one of the shortest days of the year, in the middle of winter, to jump into 32 degrees, to say, 'You know what?