The Cedar Lake ice hole is a winter cold water plunge cut into the frozen surface of Cedar Lake, on the west side of the lake beside the canoe launch off Cedar Lake Parkway in Minneapolis. It is not a beach and it is not a Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board program. Volunteers from Endurance United, a Minnesota nonprofit, cut and maintain the hole under a permit issued by MPRB, clear it of snow and reopen it after it skims over. Park ordinance otherwise prohibits cutting any hole wider than 10 inches in a park lake, and a permit application requires liability insurance naming the park board, so the hole exists because an organized group took responsibility for it. A second permitted hole operates on Lake Harriet.

Using it is free, but the seasonal Endurance United waiver is not optional. You sign it before your first dip and you carry a copy, on your phone or printed. Minneapolis Park Police can ask to see it and can write a citation if you do not have one. There is no lifeguard here and there never will be. The volunteers ask that nobody plunge alone, that newcomers come when other people are already at the hole, and that you tell someone on the ice before you get in. The season runs as long as the ice holds, usually from deep winter into March. When a warm stretch weakens the ice the hole is closed and the volunteers post the closure.

The hazard is cold shock, and it is immediate. Water near 32 degrees pulls an involuntary gasp out of you and drives your breathing and heart rate up before you can think about it. Drowning in a plunge hole happens in that first minute, not from hypothermia later. People who use this hole get in slowly, keep their head above water, control their breathing and stay in for something between 10 seconds and 3 minutes. Getting out is the other half of it. Dry clothes, a towel and warm layers need to be within a few steps of the ladder, and someone needs to be watching you. Ice away from the maintained hole is unmonitored and no thickness is ever guaranteed.

Park the lot off Cedar Lake Parkway on the west shore, about 500 feet from the water. It is a pay lot with multi-space meters and app payment, enforced daily including holidays. Facilities are thin in winter: a portable toilet near the lot, grills and a pier that see summer use, and no warming house. Park hours are 6 a.m. to midnight. Cedar Lake Regional Trail runs along the north side for walking, and the canoe launch beside the hole is the paddling access for the Chain of Lakes in season.

In warm weather you probably want the beaches instead. Cedar Lake covers 169 acres and runs 51 feet deep, and it has three MPRB swimming beaches: Point Beach on the southwest shore, which is the only one with lifeguards, plus East Beach, locally called Hidden Beach, and South Beach, which are both unguarded. Lifeguards work 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily through the summer season. Beach hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The park board tests for E. coli and posts closures, blue-green algae can bloom in hot spells, and swimming is discouraged for 48 hours after heavy rain. State fish consumption advisories for mercury and PFOS apply to what you catch here.