Alaskan outdoor educator and ice rescue instructor Luc Mehl told Reuters on Nov. 11 of his experience skating on an unusual “ice window” that formed on an alpine lake in Alaska in late October.
Mr. Mehl said that the once-in-a-decade “ice window” formed because of an “unusually cold but dry transition into winter.”
Calm weather conditions allowed Rabbit Lake near Anchorage to freeze in such a way that the ice was perfectly clear, while still featuring the ice thickness required to allow people to skate on it.
Video footage shot by Mr. Mehl and his wife between Oct. 23 and 26 shows people skating on the frozen lake—and with every detail of the lake’s bottom revealed.
The instructor emphasized the importance of having the proper safety measures in place before taking part in the activity, as the clear ice can be deceptive. “Yeah, it is dangerous. And some people even did fall through during that week,” he said.