Lake Tahoe Swim Crossing 2.0
Spencer Schneider just went back to back on the ‘Lake Tahoe Swim Crossing!’ On July 29, exactly one week after Caite Kappel’s voyage across Lake Tahoe, Schneider made the crossing from California to Nevada to be the second Dawgpatch core athlete to tag this monstrous alpine swim. The 2025 Point to Point Season is officially firing.
Start Point: West Lake Tahoe (Homewood, California)
End Point: East Lake Tahoe (Glenwood, Nevada)
Mode of Travel: Swim
Distance: 12.2 miles
Date of Completion: July, 29, 2025
Levels of Support: Solo Swim. Guide boat support (spot). Open water swim rules applied.
Trip Report: “This swim was not on my radar until Caite Kappel told me in January we were going to do it in July. The plan was she’d crew for me one day and I’d crew for her two days later. We trained together at Manhattan’s Asphalt Green, and the YMCA in East Hampton, and in East Hampton’s open waters. The open water training swims included a 6 mile unassisted point to point leading up to the planned Tahoe swim. But I got a bad cold just before the swim and had to reschedule for a week after Caite’s swim (completed on July 22, 2025).
In open water swimming, nature deals the cards and you either play them or fold. I was dealt the opposite hand of Caite: a flat lake, sunny skies, and water temp ranging from 64 to 68, mostly 66. Pure luck. I've had plenty of crappy hands too, but those are the ones you never forget. Still, the concerns for me were the ~6,000 foot altitude, cold waters, and remnants from the cold. A couple of days before the swim I learned for the first time that this was an alpine lake, which didn’t sound good. I was also concerned because I hadn't swum anything this long since before the pandemic, and now I’m 65 years old. The swim went well. I had no trouble breathing and the water temperature was manageable. And the most important part was that my mind was peaceful with little of the cacophony which can accompany multi-hour swims. I gave myself the “option” to stop at anytime (relieving undue pressure), I looked ahead only to the next 30 minute feed (bite-size pieces), and played complete albums in my head. I finished in 7 hr 32 min, which was good because I would have run out of drinks/gels in 30 more minutes. The entire trip was something of a victory lap and I'm so honored to be able to post.” - Spencer Schneider
Additional Details: I have nothing to add from what Caite said except that the average depth of the lake is 1000 feet.
Note: Spencer Schneider logged this swim for Dawgpatch Bandits while going through the experts out in the Lake Tahoe Region, ‘Pacific Open Water Swim Co.’ and had the swim ratified by ‘Lake Tahoe Open Water Swim Association.’ If you would like to make an attempt of a Lake Tahoe swim crossing check out: https://www.swimtahoe.com/ and https://www.tahoeopenwater.org/
Spencer Schneider’s Core Athlete Bio: https://www.dawgpatchbandits.com/archive/core-athlete-profile-spencer-schneider
