This afternoon in the high Sierra Nevada mountain range, Joe Locke of the Night Train Swimmers is making his way through two feet of snow and air temperatures as low as 24°F (-4°C) to soon begin his attempt of Lake Tahoe.

Never before has someone attempted or successfully crossed the full length of Lake Tahoe (21 miles) so late in the season.

Open water swimmers occasionally talk about swimming in “freezing” temperatures, but Joe can certainly state so definitively about his Lake Tahoe attempt with no wetsuit under English Channel rules.

In a shocking announcement, Joe started his double-crossing attempt – a 42-mile swim – starting at 5:15 pm Pacific Time. “The weather is ideal and the water started at 59°F (15°C).”

Note: Water temperature dropped to 56°F (13.3°C) by the third hour. But the “water is balmy” according to his crew.

Joe Locke is being driven by team member Paul Lundgren in the photo above. The lower photo was taken from Joe’ escort boat by Vito Bialla as the sun was setting over Lake Tahoe on Friday night.

Joe started from the North shore and is heading to the South shore. His course can be seen here. Update: Joe pulled out due to cold water 7 hours 41 minutes after his start, nearly 3 miles to the completion of the first leg.

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