Ahead of the storm forecast tomorrow, I went out and shot some images along the Lake Erie shoreline. The sun was just right. The lake, frozen, looked like some unreal planet from a science fiction show.
When large bodies of water freeze, they don’t freeze completely. Under the surface, liquid water still moves. As it slowly freezes, it pushes already existing ice out of the way. Creating mountains and molehills and otherwordly shapes, in what Canadians in the Niagara region call “Shoves”. As in, that ice shoved this ice out of the way.
Though it looks safe enough to walk on this should not be trusted. The moving ice can be deceptive. Thinner in places. In some, ice bores are created. These are mounds, covered with thin ice, that conceal drops into unfrozen lake water several feet below. Trapdoors that can open with the weight of a single step. With no way to get back up to the surface through the surrounding ice, these claim lives every year. Not the best way to go.
But the beauty from the safety of the shoreline is undeniable. I could look at a scene like this for hours. Indeed I did just that. This is a view to be savoured. A new vista in every direction. In a week this will be gone forever. No two lake freezes are the same. They are as individual as fingerprints, and as ephemeral as cobwebs. And they are as beautiful as the sea and the frozen waves they resemble..
