Skaters Rescued on Lake Champlain
A section of ice broke away with five skaters stranded on it; state police and area rescue teams were able to get the skaters to safety.
The Record Staff
Five skaters were rescued on Lake Champlain Tuesday around noon after a large section of ice broke off near Charlotte and left them stranded and surrounded by open water. No one was hurt.
Several skaters told VTDigger that they had gone out over a crack in the ice that looked harmless enough but quickly widened in the sun and warming temperatures and left them on a floating, separated ice pack. The temperature was approximately 30 degrees with a light wind; it was partly sunny.
“We never say ice is safe, only skateable, because stuff can go on out there,” Jack Rosenthal, 75, of Charlotte told VTDigger. Rosenthal lives nearby and has been skating on the lake for years.
The first rescuers at the scene were able to make contact with the skaters and provide them with life vests. Rescuers with Vergennes Fire Department hauled their inflatable boat across solid, stable ice near shore and then motored across 200 yards of open water to return them one by one to the solid ice where they walked to shore.
Also responding were Charlotte Rescue, Vermont State Police, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, Shelburne Fire, Shelburne Rescue and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Authorities said the incident was reported at about 11:45 a.m. Responders established a command post at the Charlotte Town Beach and launched a joint operation to rescue the skaters, who were approximately 675 yards off shore. Three other skaters were able to make their way to safety, police said, by heading west to the New York side of the lake.
State police remind the public that ice on Vermont’s water bodies this time of year can be unstable and unsafe, especially newly formed ice on the broader sections of Lake Champlain, which, at the time, still had considerable open water. The National Weather Service said on Friday that with approaching subzero weather over the weekend, the center of Lake Champlain could freeze completely.
Anyone venturing onto the ice should take precautions, including dressing appropriately, carrying tools to allow for self-rescuing in the event the ice gives way, and ensuring the ice is at least four inches thick in order to support their weight.