Cold water plunge at center of veterans’ goal to assist others
Craig Mayville and Luke Opp founded The Frozen Chosen nonprofit to assist fellow veterans and others in need of assistance. A focus of the organization is also daily plunges into Flathead Lake. (Summer Zalesky/Daily Inter Lake)
In the winter of 1950 during the Korean War, 120,000 Chinese troops surrounded 8,000 U.S. fighters. The surprise attack transpired on the Chosin Reservoir during one of the coldest winters that North Korea had seen in over 100 years, according to author and historian Douglas Sterner. Today, the battle of the Frozen Chosin, as it came to be known, defines the grit, determination, and never-give-up attitude of the Marine Corps.
Luke Opp and Craig Mayville, both Marine veterans, are now honoring the memory of that sacrifice with a nonprofit called The Frozen Chosen. After a realization that veterans in the Flathead Valley were not receiving the care and services they needed, Opp decided to dedicate himself to starting the organization.
“We want to give back. People in this community need help and the VA is the lowest form of help in this community. So if someone needs financial support in getting to another hospital, we want to provide that. Even people who aren’t veterans, we want to help. This community needs that,” said Opp.
Opp was raised in Columbia Falls, joined the Marine Corps in 1999 later deployed to Camp Schwab, Okinawa, and Camp Fuji, both in Japan. He was honorably discharged in January of 2003 and now lives in Bigfork.
Mayville was raised in southwest Michigan and was stationed in Hawaii. He deployed to Iwakuni, Japan; the Philippines; Okinawa, Japan; and India. He moved to Bigfork last year.
Mayville was motivated to start cold plunging when friends of his began ice bathing. He started by lying in the snow for up to three minutes and then finally worked up the courage to try the water, making it 30 seconds in Flathead Lake.
He invited more friends to join him, eventually being joined by Opp. Weekly plunges quickly turned into daily plunges.
The goal for The Frozen Chosen is two-fold: to create a community of health while providing care for veterans. Part of their outreach includes the plunge at Wayfarers State Park that takes place every morning.
“We mainly wanted to start with our cold plunge outreach and it became a culmination of a community,” said Mayville. “This plunge changes people. We want to take it around the country and eventually make more chapters of it.”
One Frozen Chosen member, Rob Ford, attributes his newfound physical and mental health to the daily cold plunge and said, he has “more concentration, more sense of humor, and more ability to relax.” But only a year ago, Ford felt like he might end it all.
“I was on my way to dying. I stopped engaging with life. I don’t know what happened to me, I was really depressed. I went into a low and just couldn’t get out of it,” said Ford.
After entering a treatment program for depression and discovering cold water immersion, Ford’s life was changed. When he returned from the program, he met Mayville who invited him to the cold plunge.
“These guys were doing it for the same reasons I was doing it — to challenge themselves and to be healthy,” said Ford. “Craig goes up to everybody at the gym and invites them to do the plunge. He just has this amazing personality and energy and I’m becoming more like him.”
Ford said that doing The Frozen Chosen’s daily cold plunge has helped him sleep better, lose weight, and handle situations at work better.
“I’m 48 years old and I feel like I’m 10 years younger. I feel like I’m going to tack years onto my life by doing this which gives me so much more time with my kids and my family,” said Ford. “My day is so much better when I do the plunge. You just did something so difficult that nothing can really faze you now.”
Despite the shivers and nerves of getting into the icy water, roughly 10 to 50 people jump in the lake each morning and attempt to stay immersed for 3 to 4 minutes. Besides being a pillar of community health, the cold water plunge is a symbol of Opp and Mayville’s dedication to their cause.
“There are too many people in the community changing their lives that I don’t want a normal job to get in the way,” said Mayville. “It would be nice to have income coming in, but this just feels too important. I’ve committed myself totally to this.”
Anyone interested in participating in the cold plunge can meet at Wayfarers State Park Monday through Friday at 5:30 or 6:30 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m. To learn more about The Frozen Chosen, visit their website thefrozenchosen.com, their Instagram @frozenchosenmontana or YouTube, Frozen Chosen Montana. To contact Opp or Mayville, email frozenchosenmt@gmail.com.
Reporter Summer Zalesky may be reached at szalesky@dailyinterlake.com.