Another cautionary tale of Mendenhall Lake’s dangerously thin ice

James Brooks walks his dog, Cookie, and a malamute friend along Mendenhall Lake on Dec. 3 in Juneau. Shortly before New Year’s, Cookie fell into the lake after the ice beneath her gave way and she never resurfaced. (Photo courtesy Rashah McChesney)

It’s the stuff of nightmares. Watching a loved one fall through the ice and being unable to save them.

It happened recently to one Juneau man who lost his 4-year-old dog shortly before New Year’s. James Brooks, 31, and a friend were walking their dogs on Mendenhall Lake near Nugget Falls.

“There was a lead of open water at the time and the other dog jumped in. My dog is not much of a swimmer,” Brooks said. “She likes to wade but she doesn’t like to swim.”

The first dog was a husky mix. Brooks’ 60-pound rottweiler/beagle mix named Cookie, went over to watch.

“She walked up to the edge to see what he was doing and the ice just gave way under her front paws and my initial reaction was to smile because I assumed that she would come up splashing, paddling — maybe a little panicked — but I’d be able to reach in and pull her out without any trouble,” Brooks said. “But she never came up.”

(Courtesy Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center)

Brooks’ friend stripped down and jumped into the water. But neither man could find any trace.

Not even bubbles.

“I walked along the edge to see if I could see anything but there was nothing there,” Brooks said. “It just happened in a split second.”

“It was as if a cosmic eraser had come in and just erased her from existence,” he said. “Because there was no trace after she slipped in. It was there one moment and gone the next.”

Rescuers in Juneau say the ice around the Mendenhall Glacier area can be risky.

“Three people that I know of now have gone through the ice and fell in — all around the face of the glacier and over by Nugget Falls,” said Jayme Johns, an engineer with Capital City Fire/Rescue.

Johns is the lead water rescuer for the department and will be demonstrating rescue techniques at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center.

“When other people venture out, other people see that and think the ice is safe,” he said. “We’re just going to give them some pointers and some clues on ice that’s not safe and stuff that they can look for if they do fall in or if someone does fall in what they can do to help out.”

Brooks and friends held a memorial recently for his dog.

No trace of her was found.

He says the experience was tragic but also instructive.

“It could happen at any time without any warning because I had no warning,” Brooks said, “and there’s no way to tell from one moment to the next what might happen in the next second.”

A few weeks before Brooks’ dog perished in the lake, a Juneau man fell through the ice.

Houston Laws, 31, went into the water last month.

Fortunately he was able to pull himself to safety and assist a 61-year-old grandmother who had ventured into dangerous territory.

The area where he’d slipped is a popular one for selfies.

And like Brooks, he said there had been no warning.

Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska

Jacob Resneck is CoastAlaska's regional news director based in Juneau. CoastAlaska is our partner in Southeast Alaska. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications