Stories about "Puddle Jump"
An incomplete 50-year history of the Puddle Jump
Friday, February 7, 2025 12:00 pm
A pictorial 50-year history of a one-of-a-kind college tradition, the Puddle Jump, with the bookend editions of 1975 and 2025 featuring the founders and 1978 classmates Chris Callahan, Scott Copeland, and Lars Llorente.
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
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.