One of those gentlemen was the Brother of my wife's cousin's wife. It was a shock to all of the family. he was a seasoned outdoorsman, and no one in the family understood why he would risk that "one more outing" with his experience. We had been having warm then cold weather, not always refreezing overnight, ice was not clear, hard ice, and was barely thick enough to hold a person, even if it had been clear hard ice. Just goes to show you, even years of experience can make mistakes, some more costly than others.
Always, always, be safe first, or it might be your last.
