A 24-year-old Lander is recruiting brave souls to jump with her into the icy Popo Agie River this winter, and she’s determined to keep taking the plunge herself until spring.
Felicity Hnilicka has been jumping in the river during the coldest months for about three years, but she has never survived a full winter.
This year, she wants to change that.
Now she’s inviting other Landers to join her at the City Park Bridge near McManus, hoping she’ll find others willing to take the plunge.
For Hnilicka, the appeal isn’t just about jumping into freezing water. This, she says, is what the experience has taught her about how to face uncomfortable situations, manage stress and get things done.
Not everyone understands the appeal, but a University of Wyoming exercise physiology expert explains what exactly happens to a person’s body when they plunge into freezing, moving water — and why some call the post-dive feeling “euphoric.”
‘You have to go’
Hnilicka’s fascination with the cold began long before she started jumping into rivers.
Born and raised in Lander, she grew up on a small family farm outside of town, where winter provided its own form of entertainment.
She remembers her siblings challenging themselves to run barefoot in the snow to where the family kept dog food in a detached garage, and the feeling of joy that followed.
While others lament the colder months, she favors them.
On a bitter morning in February 2024, when the temperature outside was around 16 degrees, Hnilicka and a few friends decided to take a dip in the Popo Agie before heading out for a day of skiing.
The water was extremely cold.
By the time they got back on the bank, their wet feet were sticking to the rocks.
But somehow, Hnilicka loved it.
It was one of the most memorable dives for the 24-year-old, who has spent parts of the past three winters voluntarily diving into ice-covered streams, often alone.
A former personal trainer interested in hot and cold therapy, Hnilicka said she believes the practice has improved her sleep, circulation, stress management and overall well-being.
“Most of the time I don’t want to do it. My body doesn’t want to get in the water,” she said.
Overcoming this resistance, she says, helped her develop discipline in other areas of her life.
“If I can just say, ‘You have to go, you have to do this,’ then that has also helped me not procrastinate on events in my life,” she said, “like responding to a text, responding to an email, and those kinds of things.”
“It’s a rush”
Hnilicka typically begins his winter dives in November, when the water becomes colder but the season has not yet reached its most extreme temperatures.
During the first two weeks, it remains brief.
As the season progresses, she says she can eventually stay in the river for five to 10 minutes.
“But nothing more,” she said.
The Popo Agie River flows through Lander City Park, where it usually plunges. Some portions are shallow enough to wade, while others have pools deep enough for a cannonball.
“The slow approach is usually not the easiest for me,” she said.
His car is usually running, with a hot towel on hand and a cup of hot tea.
The feeling that follows is difficult to describe
“It’s a rush,” she said. “I feel both excited and relaxed.”
His skin turns red from the cold. Her heart is racing, but she says that after a few weeks of practice, she is better able to control her breathing and calm down.
Not everyone understands the appeal.
Her mother became concerned, and Hnilicka remembered a group of elderly people walking in the city park after a snowfall and spotted her and her two friends in the river.
They laughed and joked that the kids were crazy.
Not everyone converts
Hundreds of miles south, near the small community of Savery in Carbon County, Kimberly Coats also gets it.
Coats and her husband live on a 600-acre ranch where Savery Creek runs through their property.
Her husband, a former professional athlete, had become interested in cold exposure and was already taking cold showers.
After doing some research on cold diving, she figured they might as well give it a try.
They came out in their robes, cut a hole in the ice covering a deeper part of the creek, and climbed into the 32-degree water.
The air temperature was around 20 degrees.
It was January or February, and it was as unpleasant as it sounds.
She remembers the immediate numbness and crushing shock of the cold, but then something unexpected happened.
“You understand it’s always hard to explain, these tingling sensations all over your body,” she said. “You feel incredibly awake, alert.”
It was almost intoxicating.
“It almost felt like it was a manufactured high,” she said. “It was just like, ‘Ooh, I feel good.'”
For a moment, she understood why people did this.
“The whole experience”
When they did so, neither entered the icy stream without the other’s presence.
“If you pass out and slip under the ice, you could die,” Coats said.
Later that spring, due to a medical diagnosis unrelated to the cold, his doctor advised him to stop.
Still, she hasn’t lost her appreciation for Wyoming winters.
A Chicago native, Coats lived in Kansas City, Las Vegas and abroad before settling in Wyoming.
She and her husband regularly snowshoe on their ranch, sometimes when the temperature is only 15 or 20 degrees.
She loves blue skies, fresh air and the feeling of being outside when much of the world prefers to stay indoors.
“I find the cold invigorating,” she says.
She thinks that, for some people, being immersed in nature is part of the appeal.
“If you soak in a bathtub on your back patio, you might not get the same appeal,” she said. “But for us to do it in a river with the ice cut off, it was quite the experience.”
What happens to the body?
There is a scientific explanation for at least part of what Hnilicka and Coats describe.
Ward Dobbs, an assistant professor of kinesiology and health at the University of Wyoming who specializes in human performance, said the body’s immediate reaction to ice water is a powerful stress response.
The heart rate may increase, breathing becomes rapid, and the body essentially goes into a state of alert.
At the same time, immersing the face in cold water can trigger another physiological reflex that slows the heart.
“Your body, reeling from the cold, tells you to speed up everything, but rapidly cooling the face sends a signal to slow down the heart,” Dobbs said.
These competing reactions can create what is called cardiovascular conflict.
For an otherwise healthy person, the body can tolerate stress without serious consequences, but for someone with underlying cardiovascular disease, sudden changes can be of particular concern.
Dobbs said repeated exposure can also change how the body responds.
He compared the process to the habit of exercising in hot weather.
Initially, unknown environmental stress puts considerable strain on the body. With repeated exposure, the body can begin to adapt.
“In theory, I mean, it’s similar to heat stress, cold stress, any type of stress or even exercise,” he said.
This does not mean that a person becomes immune to the cold or that the risks disappear.
And while cold-diving enthusiasts frequently describe improved mental clarity, better mood, and increased energy, Dobbs was careful not to characterize these sensations as universal.
Not a bathtub
Unlike a stationary cold tub, flowing water continually moves along the body, carrying away heat, Dobbs points out.
In still water, the thin layer immediately surrounding a person’s skin may warm slightly.
In a river, this warmer layer is constantly being replaced.
“You have water flowing, so there’s more convection,” Dobbs explained, saying the body can lose heat more quickly.
When a person remains submerged for several minutes, the consequences can go beyond just feeling uncomfortable.
Exposure to cold can interfere with muscle function and coordination, potentially making it difficult to swim or exit the water.
Dobbs pointed out that even highly skilled swimmers can have trouble in cold water, not necessarily because they have become hypothermic, but because their muscles no longer respond effectively.
A person’s ability to swim under normal conditions does not guarantee that they will be able to do so after prolonged exposure to icy water.
Wind, water temperature, current and ability to warm up afterwards all affect the level of risk.
Entering the water gradually can help reduce the intensity of the initial cardiovascular response, he said.
It did not suggest that all immersion in cold water was inherently dangerous or should be avoided.
“If anyone has ever been to Finland, this is their culture,” Dobbs said. “Everyone has a sauna and they go diving straight into the lake.”
Even when lakes freeze over, people make holes in the ice to dive.
“They’ll cut it off and jump in there and cool off quickly, then come back and get back in the sauna,” Dobbs said.
The idea, he explained, is that alternating between extreme cold and extreme heat causes blood vessels to contract and dilate, a process that some believe can improve blood flow.
“Too much can be as bad as not enough,” Dobbs said.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at Gn Health
