Stories about "Puddle Jump"
Picture Story: Puddle Jump 2024

Thursday, February 15, 2024 5:42 pm

Enjoy this immersive (but not submersive!) photo coverage of the Puddle Jump, plus read historical newspaper accounts of our enduring enchantment with jumping into icy cold water in the winter.

Picture Story: Puddle Jump 2023

Friday, February 17, 2023 1:02 pm

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden ’11 (D-Maine) lights the Winter Carnival torch brandished by Charlie Gainey '24 of Portola Valley, Calif. The torch seemed a little less ornate this year, more of a fuel-soaked rag wrapped around an ax handle. But it got the job done. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
Video: Scenes (and behind the scenes) of Puddle Jump 2022

Friday, February 18, 2022 9:00 am

Within vaunted traditions there are always new wrinkles. Take the Bates tradition of the Maine governor lighting a torch to kick off Winter Carnival

Picture story: After a year’s hiatus, a gleeful return for the Puddle Jump

Tuesday, February 15, 2022 3:49 pm

The pandemic showed us how quickly beloved traditions, silly or significant, can be disrupted. Hence the unbounded glee during this year's Puddle Jump — the Return!

Picture story: Puddle Jump 2020

Friday, February 7, 2020 10:20 am

Bates photographer Phyllis Graber Jensen covers the college’s unforgettable Lake Andrews winter ritual.

Video: Winter Carnival torch lighting returned today with Maine Gov. Janet Mills

Friday, February 8, 2019 12:26 pm

Earlier today, a 20th-century Bates Outing Club tradition was reignited when newly…

Video: Anticipation, action, reaction at the 2018 Puddle Jump

Friday, February 2, 2018 11:09 am

The weather: pretty cold. The costumes: wigs and heels, goggles and pig noses, swimsuits and cow suits. Then: the jump.

Picture story: Puddle Jump 2018

Thursday, February 1, 2018 7:08 pm

One, two, three!...Pictures aplenty from the 2018 Puddle Jump, Bates' signature winter student tradition.

Picture story: Puddle Jump 2017

Thursday, January 26, 2017 5:44 pm

Check out photos and video of the Jan. 20 Puddle Jump at Lake Andrews, a joyous student tradition that happily leaves the question “Why?” unanswered.

Photo Story: Leaping, skimming, and freezing at the Puddle Jump

Friday, February 19, 2016 11:37 am

The Bates Puddle Jump, the annual, you-have-to-be mad dash from shore to pond, has been going strong as a student rite of passage since 1975. A new wrinkle for 2016: Pond skimming!

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