Does sound terrible, but looks like a blast.
Congratulations.
I remember acclimating to snow melt as a yoot (high lakes in Montana) - does that happen here at all? Or is the exposure to suddenly on and off?
Good work, Wade. A bunch of my open water swimming friends just went to Vermont for that competition and they're constantly asking me to go. Uh, no.
My best in "cold" water was when I was swimming regularly in the ocean near Boston, pre-'rona: I did 31 minutes in 50F. Raise the temp a bit, I can go longer. I did 2.5 hours in 56F (and at a mile above sea level, but that was in 2016 in Kyrgyzstan). Once I'm in the low 60s, I'll go hours and hours.
But in the 30s? Crazy. Congrats!