Picture golden sand, warm blue waters and some gnarly waves— the perfect setting to go surfing, no?

That’s not how it’s done on Lake Superior. Surfers like Shea Alto, a senior at UMD, brave the lake’s icy waters in order to ride waves anywhere between four and twelve feet. If you’re thinking of jumping in and just winging it, think again. 

“It is a very dangerous activity, so if you don’t know what you’re doing, especially with your surfing skills, it can become pretty dangerous pretty quick,” Alto said. 

Shocking the body with icy water doesn’t sound very fun, so Alto explained why late fall and early winter are the right time of year to surf Lake Superior.

“...that is kind of when those strong northeast and north winds come in, which is what produces the wind pressure that’s needed to push down on the lake and produce sizable waves enough to surf,” Alto explained. 

One of the first times Alto went surfing alone, he wasn’t familiar with the rip currents, and they started to pull him toward the rocks. His board ended up broken in half, and he was forced to swim up the shore to escape the waves. 

Now he knows, “Part of the whole process is knowing when it’s safe to go, kind of knowing the rip currents, knowing the areas and being able to talk to people that have been doing it for a long time makes a big difference,” Alto said. “If you kind of go into it thinking you’re gonna be a great surfer right away, it will kinda put you in your place.”