Skating on Kockelscheuer lake is "very dangerous!"

(ADW) "We tried to tell people to leave the ice but in vain!" Lex Fautsch manager of the Kockelscheuer ice-rink exclaims as he watches walkers and skaters out on the frozen lake, despite a sign prohibiting it. The police have even “intervened twice”.

Blue skies, a nice thick-looking layer of ice proves too hard to resist. Dozens of walkers, including many children, benefitted from the idyllic winter Sunday to walk or skate on the frozen surface of Lake Kockelscheuer. The challenge seemed to be crossing the ice from once side to another.

A great feeling, no doubt, but "it's very dangerous!" stated the virtual resident of the area, the manager of the skating rink where nearly 1,200 skaters come on winter Sundays. Dangerous because "given the large surface, the thickness of the ice cannot be the same everywhere," explained Lex Fautsch before stating that "in many places water enters and exits the lake."

Police intervene twice with warnings

It is also dangerous because "under the ice there’s two metres of water and two metres of mud," continued the lake’s neighbour. "Those who fell in the water in the past, often came out without shoes as they remained stuck in the mud”.

The risk is real. A reason why a regulation dated July 2009 is displayed on-site prohibiting people from going on or in the lake. "The City accepts no responsibility," Fautsch warns. It is for "people to take responsibility."

A police patrol came twice on Sunday to remind the public of the regulation, but in vain. As soon as they left, out went the skaters again, and even more people arrived.