One time, many years ago, I was on the ice on Bonaparte Lake, north of Kamloops, BC. It was mid-December in a very cold winter and only the middle of the lake was still open. I was about 100' out from the south shore. The ice and water was crystal clear and I could easily see the bottom, twenty-some feet down. As I walked along, I would occasionally give the ice a whack with the 2 1/2 pound axe I was carrying. Then as I took a step and chopped, I damn near lost the axe! That ice wasn't more than 1 1/2 inch thick. I turned around and shuffled briskly back the way I had come. I was probably 200 feet from the open water at the time and had no good reason to be there except that it was easier to walk on the ice than in the snow. Looking back, I have gotten away with some remarkably dumb moves. GD
