On an ice-cold night, curiosity got the best of Klodjan Gjegji, a freshman business administration major.
Gjegji and his friends decided to walk across the frozen Lake LaSalle despite signs surrounding it prohibiting people to enter. He walked around the lake and under the bridge near Ellicott Complex, sliding across the frozen surface.
"The lake looked cracked," Gjegji said. "I was afraid of the ice breaking and falling into the lake."
Associate Director of Environmental Health and Safety David Vasbinder said no one should ever be on the lake. Signs surround the lake prohibiting students, staff and members of the public from fishing, boating and skating.
Despite the regulations, Gjegji said a couple University Police officers saw him crossing the ice with his friends, but the ice-walkers suffered no consequences.
"They asked us what we were doing, and we told them we were just playing around," Gjegji said. "We told them it was safe. They told us to be careful and just left."
The safety of the lake's ice is the main question. Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but the strength of the ice can never be known by sight. At the coldest points, Lake LaSalle could be safe to walk across, but students would never be able to know that with an eye test. Although seeing people walk across the ice seems like a rarity, it happens on a surprisingly regular basis during the winter months.
In previous years, Lake LaSalle was used in the winter. The lake used to be the location of hockey and broomball for Winterfest.
Vasbinder said the university has a process in which departments and clubs can request to use the lake for events. Such requests are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, as the event is determined to be safe or not.
Apart from these requests, the unsolicited walking across Lake LaSalle is against UB's rules and regulations.
"Signage is posted around the lakes indicating these prohibitions," Vasbinder said. "University Police patrols will enforce this if they observe individuals venturing onto the lakes."
The lake and its ice are not regularly tested, according to Vasbinder. In the past, UB performed a few evaluations on the lake's ice quality. He said the ice was deemed unpredictable due to the amount of water movements underneath, as well as large amounts of vegetation in the lake.
For someone deciding to walk across the lake, a simple slip could be dangerous.
Though Gjegji worried about falling into the lake, he said crossing the ice was quite an experience, and he would do it again if he felt it was cold enough.
Pierantonio Tassone, a sophomore international business major who explored the ice with Gjegji, said he wasn't scared because of the temperature. He said they crossed the ice when it was nearly 15 degrees below freezing. For Tassone, the cold equated to security on the ice.
"I felt safe, but it is still dangerous because it was very slippery," Tassone said. "Just by falling down, you can get serious injuries."
Venturing onto ice-covered waterways is unsafe and unpredictable, according to Vasbinder. The university, however, is not aware of anyone ever having fallen through, he said.
For some students, the danger and unpredictability is part of the thrill.
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