How To Get Icy Hot Off

A couple who took a hot air balloon ride looking for a unique experience ended up with one they will never forget after a plunge into an icy reservoir.

Matt Newey, a photojournalist for NBC affiliate KSL in Salt Lake City, and his girlfriend, Carlie Ann Gallagher, were riding on a balloon that had to make a frightening water landing due to high winds at the annual Balloons and Tunes Round Up in Kanab, Utah, on Saturday.

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Newey took video of the moment when a scenic day up in the blue skies turned scary after the balloon ran into heavy winds and had to make an emergency landing in ice cold water.

"We started coming over this reservoir area," Newey told KSL. "You could kind of feel it. It was like we hit this wall of wind and we just started dropping and descending really quickly, and he's like cranking."

The pilot can be heard yelling in the background in the video.

"It's getting pretty windy," he says as the balloon rapidly approaches the water. "We're going to get wet!"

Newey said the balloon hit the water and tipped over sideways, soaking everyone with freezing water.

"No, no, no! Do not get out, please," the pilot can be heard yelling.

Newey and Gallagher told KSL that the pilot quickly leveled the balloon and flew it up and out of the water.

"It all happened so quick," Gallagher said. "All of a sudden, we were really close to the water, and then all of a sudden, my feet and whole body was wet."

Despite the unscheduled landing, the couple said they will be coming back to the festival next year to take another ride.

"I wouldn't want to land any other way," Newey joked.

Scott Stump is a New Jersey-based freelancer who has been a regular contributor for TODAY.com since 2011, producing news stories and features across the trending, pop culture, sports, parents, pets, health, style, food and TMRW verticals. He has tackled every assignment from interviewing astronauts on the International Space Station to prison inmates training service dogs for military veterans.