Snap o' the day: Walk on water
A frozen Mint Springs lured visitors to venture out on the ice January 18, though they stayed close to shore. Earlier parkgoers had thrown bottles and rocks that failed to dent the ice and littered the surface of the Crozet pond.
9 comments
What a crazy thing to do! The temperatures in this area in recent history do not support ice thick enough to walk on or skate on. I haven't been out on ice since the day former Commonwealth Attorney Richard Barrick and his friend fell through a few years back while ice skating. Mr Barrick survived, his friend didn't.
Do you think we'll ever see this sight again in Charlottesville ?
"the chance to ice-skate outdoors creates a frenzy in Kinderdijk"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/world/europe/16skaters.html?partner=rs...
Does anyone know the date of the last winter when people could safely skate on ponds outdoors in Charlottesville ?
Does anyone know the last winter it snowed?
I love the fact that people just flung bottles onto a frozen lake. Sounds like a nice "green" community. Perhaps someone has a few old refrigerators and cars laying around they need to get rid of. That would be pretty.
When I was 10 - and probably weighed maybe 65 pounds - I fell through some ice walking on a pond in Virginia Beach. Fortunately it only came up to my knees and I wasn't hurt, but I would never want to repeat that experience. The water was so cold that I could barely move, and my friends had to help me get out.
Just because the ice looks thick, or it can support an empty plastic bottle or a small rock, doesn't mean it can support human weight. A few days of below-freezing temps do not make for a frozen solid pond. Stay off it.
from the Times-Dispatch article about Dr. Arie Bestebreurtje
Charlottesville: This was his second parish and his last. He retired in 1981. He died in 1983 while skating and falling through the ice succumbing to the extreme exposure.
http://www.b26.com/page/arie.d.bestebreurtje.htm
so I guess 1983 was perhaps the last year anyone could safely skate outdoors in Charlottesville ?
quote: "...so I guess 1983 was perhaps the last year anyone could safely skate outdoors in Charlottesville?
Betty, obviously 1983 WASN'T safe. This is the gentleman that was skating with former Commonwealth's Attorney Richard Barrick when the ice beneath them failed. Mr. Barrick was very fortunate in surviving the ordeal.
Demolition derby on ice is hard to beat for fun. The cool part is you don't have to dispose of the crashed up cars, they magically disappear in the spring!
My net worth greatly exceeds his! :-)
Oh, were you talking about "monetary" worth?