Lake Tahoe Swim Crossing 1.0
On July 22 Core Athlete, Caite Kappel swam clean across the widest point of Lake Tahoe (12.2 miles) in proper open water swimming conditions. Kappel made the high altitude swim crossing from California to Nevada at one with the chop and cold water to log the first alpine lake crossing in Dawgpatch Bandits history.
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, 22, 2025
Levels of Support: Solo Swim. Guide boat support (spot). Open water swim rules applied.
Trip Report: “On July 22nd, we met at Obexer’s Marina in Homewood, California in West Lake Tahoe to swim the 12+ mile width of Lake Tahoe. The boat left from the marina at 4:30am (to transport me to start point) and then I touched the shore near Homewood, California at the widest point of the lake to start the swim. Lake Tahoe sits at 6,200 feet above sea level. The water temp was 63 degrees at the start and stayed between 63 to 64 degrees during the swim. There had been high winds on Monday (the day before the swim) of 25-30 mph, which created a lot of chop on the lake. Additionally, there was cloud coverage keeping the air temps between 49-51 degrees during the swim. I made the crossing touching down in Glenwood, Nevada after 6 hours and 18 minutes.” - Caite Kappel
Additional Details: Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Caite Kappel 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/
Caite Kappel Core Athlete Bio: https://www.dawgpatchbandits.com/archive/core-athlete-profile-caite-kappel
