ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) — Two Wisconsin men are grateful to be alive after surviving two terrifying hours on ice floes in Lake Superior as heavy waves crashed around them.

Eighty-year-old Skip Wick of Hurley and 61-year-old Mike Popko of Saxon say they feared the worst during their weekend ordeal.

They were among 50 to 75 ice anglers fishing on 1-foot-thick ice near Ashland.

Wick was about 500 yards from shore when cracks suddenly appeared. He and Popko made their way shoreward as heavy swells below the ice expanded the fractures. But as they jumped from one ice chunk to another they ran out of steppingstones.

They rode out the storm on separate floes while waves raged as high as 12 feet.

The Duluth News Tribune says rescuers were eventually able to reach them.

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