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These Coloradans hunt for frozen mountain lakes to ice skate on (and the videos are mesmerizing)

A group of friends in Colorado hunt for mountain lakes where they can safely ice skate.

GUNNISON, Colo —

In other parts of the country, people ice skate on controlled rinks. In Colorado, folks hunt for frozen mountain lakes. 

Or at least, that’s what Next with Kyle Clark viewer Dave Kozlowski and his friends do. He said they go searching for the earliest lake to freeze near Gunnison so they speed skate with a little bit of scenery. 

“On Tuesday, we looked at four different lakes,” Kozlowski said. “Found one that we were able to skate.” 

That’s not easy to do. In his emails with 9NEWS, Kozlowski emphasized safety. To check the thickness of the ice, he said he throws a grapefruit-sized rock on it. 

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“If it bounces and makes a ‘twang’ sound, then the ice is safe to proceed on,” he said. “Once you hear it, you’d understand.” 

Finding good ice in the mountains is hard, and Kozlowski said there’s a finite amount of time when it can happen (typically early November through January, or until everything freezes over and is snowed on). 

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Kozlowski said he never skates alone, and that he and his friends wear personal floatation devices, and carry ice picks and ropes. 

Some skaters are known to bring a change of clothes in case they are exposed to bad weather. 

You can watch drone video of the skating below:

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