Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2014 - 54

Lessons are
Learned on
Thin Ice
by Ron Kuhn
Everyday people do not often experience the lower degrees
of cold. During the cold Pennsylvania winters, they
hurriedly travel the distance between their heated car and
their heated destination. Winter had the Keystone landscape frozen under its grip with bare trees, snow-covered
fields and ice-covered lakes, ponds and streams.
At the edge of a small wooded area was an ice-covered
pond. When the wind blew through the white oaks, the
remaining brown leaves rustled, occasionally letting one
loose to find its way to the white carpeted earth. Three
well-insulated anglers trudged their way from the roadside,
dragging a sled full of ice fishing gear to the wooded edge
of the pond.
The temperatures had been near freezing for several
weeks, and a fresh coating of snow covered the flat surface
of the water. At the edge of the pond, the ice wash was
slushy. When weight was applied to the ice, water made its
way to the surface. "No fishing today Ethan," the old man
exclaimed as his pack boot began to sink into the edge
of the pond. "It's not that bad is it?" the boy asked as the
pond mud mixed with the snow to make tea-colored slush.
The old man heaved a rock from the fencerow towards
the middle of the pond. As the rock struck the surface, it
disappeared into the water below casting daylight into the
dark cold depths. The young angler turned and headed to
the vehicle without any further comment.
Overnight, the temperatures failed to drop below
freezing. In several places, water was on the surface of the
pond's ice. The young boy stared out of the van window as
it motored along the narrow back road. Snow melted on the
asphalt revealing the edges of the road. "That's not good,"
said the boy's father as he pulled off to the side of the road.
Two teenage boys stood on the pond boring into the soft
ice with an auger as Ethan's father, Jack, walked through the
field within shouting distance. Before Jack could yell, the
auger broke through the ice with both young men plunging
down behind it. Ethan grabbed the ice fishing throw bag
and rushed it out to meet his dad.

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * January/February 2014

illustration-Ron Kuhn

When Jack reached the edge of the pond, both boys were
desperately grasping for anything they could grab to pull
themselves from the icy water. "Grab the rope," the rescuer
yelled as he tossed the bag towards the boys. The boy closest
to the bag grabbed the end of the rope and struggled up
onto the ice where Jack dragged him to solid ground. While
Jack pulled the second boy to safety, Ethan helped the first
boy to the warm van. With both boys safely in the vehicle,
Jack drove them to their house down the road.
After ensuring that they were okay, their mother scolded
them for not listening to their father's orders that morning
to stay off of the pond. Jack smiled as he drove down the
road, thinking of the outdoor education Ethan had gained
on the half-frozen pond that day.
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2014

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