I live in Holland, only a few miles away from Lake Michigan. Many of us would not be caught climing all over these ice caves and lake ice. Looks can be deceiving and this ice is NOT safe to walk on. I personally think that many of these people dragging their kids onto this ice should be slapped upside the head. Lake ice is always shiftng and moving and holes open up at a moments notice. In Grand Haven, only 20 minutes north of me, 6 people had to be pulled off the ice after falling in. People were pushing their infants in strollers all over this ice. Stupid is the only word that fits.
I had the same thought.
The formations and caves were spectacular, like nothing I've ever seen (must be global warming). The road access was as crowded as a national park in July, an amazing amount of people came to see what the lake formed. Ice bluffs and scouring from 15 to 30 feet high going parallel to the lake for more than a mile, with people all over them.
I have some pics I'll try to post on the thread later if I can.
I second your opinion. Ridges such as those in the video are caused by shifting ice. It can shift at any time. Sometimes the ice goes up, some times it goes sideways, some times it goes down.
I met a fellow who almost lost his life because it went down. It left a big pool of water with a gently sloping ice bottom. He got trapped in it, and couldn't walk out because it was too slippery to walk up the slope. Fortunately, he was able to yell and attract rescuers before he died of hypothermia.