One of my favourite things is to skate on BIG WILD ICE. It was looking like a good year... late snow... The night before the Leonids I went to Islet Lake, South of Elk Island Park in Alberta to scope out the ice.

It was around 6 cm thick kinda borderline and there was an open lead just south of the island.

My best ever WILD skating experience was a few years ago on Astotin Lake in Elk Island Park. Dark sky, no moon. Clear black ice with hardly any cracks (aka thickness guages). Proceed cautiously, pending confirmation of ice thickness - about 30 cm. Took off, but soon felt rumblings underfoot. "Oh shit! I'm going through!" Spread eagle limbs to maximize chance of catching the edge... Nothing. No hole, or crack. Right, when the ice is 30 cm thick, that isn't going to happen. So I just did the matter-over-mind thing and relaxed into about an hour of being in outer-space. Dark sky, dark ice, distant glow on the horizon, and the Star-Wars like sounds coming from the ice. My weight would often trigger the ice pressure releases directly underfoot immersing me in a wall of sound and shaking vibrations as I flew/floated through the darkness. Too Cool for words, and I can't even make my oral soundeffects... Still looking forward to the next time...