Casper resident Josh Kalinowski has been an athlete most of his life. Many will recognize the name and remember that Kalinowski played minor league baseball for many years, but, even before that, he was a star athlete in a number of different sports.
Throughout his athletic career, Kalinowski dealt with a variety of aches, pains and injuries; it was just part of the gig. And what got him through a lot of those ailments were ice baths.
Ice baths, otherwise known as Cold Water Immersion (CWI) or cryotherapy, is a form of physical therapy that quickly drops the body’s temperature, which reduces inflammation, muscle soreness, pain and more. It’s also known to boost metabolism and enhance mood, focus and productivity. Ice baths are the therapeutic equivalent of “taking a cold shower,” and the benefits are extensive.
Kalinowski knows this, and he’s known it for quite a while. As a multi-sport athlete, he’s taken countless ice baths throughout his career — and his life. And while he enjoys the process and reaps the benefits, he’s always thought that there could be a better way to introduce CWI to the masses.
Often, ice bath tubs are too small, too inconvenient, too uncomfortable. They’re too difficult to maintain and, perhaps worst of all, they’re too expensive!
Kalinowski wants to change that, which is why he and his partners, John Heisey and Luke Humphreys, have created the Chilly Dip!
No, it’s not an ice cream cone, nor a Super Bowl Sunday side dish — it is a revolutionary cold plunge solution that proves “ice baths don’t have to suck.”
The Chilly Dip is these three Wyoming men’s version, and vision, of the cold plunge.
“After a number of years of using cold therapy, we noticed a lot of issues with this particular industry,” Kalinowski said. “Everything from pricing to comfort, and we just saw a need and we saw an opportunity.”
That opportunity has led to the creation of the Chilly Dip, a small-business idea that has led to Kalinowski and his partners being named finalists in the 2024 Casper Start-Up Challenge.
The Chilly Dip, as its name implies, is a versatile “tub” that can be used at home, on the go, at gyms or sporting events, in a backyard or garage or, really, anywhere one could think of.
“Say goodbye to horse troughs and awkward lake jumps,” the Chilly Dip website states. “Our cold plunge tub brings the ice bath right to your own home. Whether it’s your backyard, garage, or anywhere you fancy, you can get your chill on anywhere.”
The popularity of ice baths and lake dips has steadily increased over the past few years, but Kalinowski has been using cryotherapy for years. As a former minor league baseball player, he has experienced firsthand all of the good that comes from cold water immersion. But it wasn’t until he started competitive racing that he really fell in love with CWI and all of its potential.
“I grew up as an athlete,” Kalinowski stated. “I had the wonderful, fortunate opportunity to do multiple sports growing up here in the state of Wyoming. And when my baseball career was done, I started to do Spartan races, DEKA races, and now I’m into endurance running as well. And a good friend of mine and I went and ran the Bighorn 50K, which was just a wonderful experience. But in preparation, and also in recovery, I’ve been doing CWI and it’s really allowed me to realize the benefits of cold therapy. And it’s made me even more passionate to develop this idea behind the Chilly Dip.”
That passion was on full display when Kalinowski presented the idea of the Chilly Dip to the Casper Start-Up Challenge judges, and it was impossible not to notice the contagious enthusiasm he had as he spoke about what he hopes this product can do for the community.
“We want to have a product that represents the heart of Wyoming,” he stated. “We’ve got great people in our state and we’ve got great manufacturing here. We’ve got people here that build wonderful, durable, long-lasting products that they can stand behind. And I believe, with the Chilly Dip, that we’ve created something that represents the state of Wyoming in all the best ways. This is going to bring jobs to the state. It’s going to bring opportunities. It’s going to bring notoriety to the state, specifically to Casper.”
Kalinowski said that Cold Water Immersion therapy is extremely popular right now, all across the country. That’s good news for the industry itself, but it also leaves the market wide open for less-than-stellar product development.
“The industry itself is kind of the wild west right now,” Kalinowski laughed. “It’s a popular thing to be doing right now, a popular thing to get into. But with cold submersion — anyone can buy a product overseas and then bring it in and try to sell it. And some are good and some are not so good. But our product is the only one that is insulated, lockable and mobile.”
Most importantly, Kalinowski said, the Chilly Dip will be available and accessible to anybody, of any age, background or body type.
“We’re really trying to overcome this idea that cold therapy is only for the elite athlete,” he shared. “The whole premise of our logo, the whole premise of our design, was to make it easily accessible, whether you’re 10 years old or you’re 73 years old. And I specifically say 10 and 73 because my youngest daughter is 10 and my father is 73.”
Both, he said, use the Chilly Dip.
“I know the benefits for a young athlete and why they should be doing it,” he stated. “And I also know how wonderful and amazing it is for people at my father’s age; people who have bad knees and bad shoulders and bad backs, and neuropathy and inflammation. I know how wonderful cold therapy can be for them and for anyone.”
Accessibility is a key component. The creators of the Chilly Dip want anybody to be able to use it, but they also want anybody to be able to afford it. That’s why they offer three different types of product: the Chilly Dip, the Chilly Dip MD and the Lil’ Dipper. The OG Chilly Dip is mostly stationary and can be hosted in a garage, backyard or gym, but the MD and Lil’ Dip are inflatable and portable and perfect for on-the-go CWI therapy.
“We really want people to understand the benefits of cold therapy and what it can do for the longevity of life and the comfort of life,” Kalinowski shared. “We also want to make sure that people recognize that, at any age, this can be a benefit for them. And we want it to be affordable. I really feel like, with the product we’ve designed — the durability, the functionality of it and the price point that we’re going to be in the market — I think we’re really going to be able to disrupt an industry that has needed to be disrupted for quite a while.”
Kalinowski, Heisey and Humphreys want to be those disrupters. And they want the Casper Start-Up Challenge, and Casper residents themselves, to help them do it.
“I think it’s really wonderful that we have businesses and we have companies like Advance Casper that have recognized that we have a tremendous amount of entrepreneurs and opportunities here in our great state,” Kalinowski said. “It’s wonderful that they’re able to pull these great organizations together, so that those who are wanting to do startups, those that have a passion for solving a problem, will have the resources to do it.”
The Chilly Dip is one of five finalists in the Casper Start-Up Challenge, which, according to the Advance Casper website, exists to help “new, independent businesses in the seed, start-up, or early growth stages in Natrona County.” The top three winners of the Casper Start-Up challenge will receive seed money, in addition to marketing, networking and mentorship assistance throughout the challenge and beyond.
“For us, specifically, this is an opportunity to connect with the right people,” Kalinowski said. “It’s the opportunity to align with the types of companies and programs that are out there to help these startups, our startup, to be successful. And I just think it’s a wonderful example of how and why our state is so great and so business-friendly: Because they do support local businesses, whether it’s a large corporation or these small businesses — they really give you the opportunity to be as successful as you can be.”
The Chilly Dip is already somewhat successful. It has already been developed, built and mass produced. But, being that it’s still in its early stages of development and production, the Casper Start-Up Challenge is able to take it to the next level.
Kalinowski and his team will present the small business plan for the Chilly Dip during the 2024 Casper Start-Up Challenge Pitch Night, happening on Sept. 5 at Frontier Brewing Company. The Pitch Night starts at 5:30 p.m. and the public is welcome to attend and hear Kalinowski, as well as the other finalists, pitch their start-ups to a select, diverse panel of judges.
“The one thing that we’re just really grateful for is that there are programs that are out there, like this,” Kalinowski said. “As a Wyoming resident, and almost a native — I’ve been here long enough, I think I can call myself a native — it’s just really great to see how the state of Wyoming and Casper, as a whole, have put together resources to help other businesses that have a passion for solving a problem, but also keeping the means by which they solve that problem, here within the state.”
Kalinowski said that, in the case of the Chilly Dip, the problem that needed solving was that Cold Water Immersion therapy was too pricey, too elite, too out-of-reach for average citizens. The Chilly Dip was created for the everyman (or woman) to experience the countless benefits of a cold plunge — anywhere, anytime, for anyone.
“We’re from Casper, and we love Wyoming,” Kalinowski said, “and so to be able to bring in an industry to the state of Wyoming, and to produce an American-made product — that’s something we’re very excited about. And we were able to cast a vision for that. All three of us agreed on pursuing and moving forward with the Chilly Dip, and here we are.”
Here they are. And, with the help of Advance Casper and the Casper Start-Up Challenge, they’re ready to take the plunge.
