Thin Ice/ "I Know Physics"

So I just feel compelled to explain the top photo in my last post (my bro on that oh-so-thin ice)... My 18-yr-old brother and I are on a trail on some mountain. Steve decides he want to go "exploring" because he hears a creek and wants to find it. We go down a very scary steep icy hill and find this river, and see there is some sort of small island in the middle of it. Steve, in his infinite wisdom and supreme judgement, announces "I'm going to leap to the island". The water is so cold there are ice chunks floating down river, and the distance about 12 ft. Clearly not doable. I tell him this, to which he responds, "I jumped 19 feet in track last seaon, I'm a conference champion. Plus, I know physics, I'll make this." I remind him that the long jump involved a long running start on a paved straightaway, not a steep snowy bank from standstill. He says that's why he will only go about 12 feet, perfect. So, genius takes his leap, lands three feet short and gets his pants wet to his knees, scurrying the last few feet to the little land mass. Once there, he says he is going to get out on the other side because it is closer. Obviously this a bad idea because the path is not on the other side, and the river curves away from the path. But of course, anything I say is stupid, so he gets out on the other side anyway and starts walking upstream to find a place to cross. About a quarter mile up we encounter the place in the photo. there are only about 6 feet of river iced entirely across (the dark parts are just water), and he decided he should traverse the river on his belly. "I know physics, I'll spread out me weight." Famous last words. I'm freaking out at this point and urging him not to. I saw something on discovery channel once about how people trying such things fall in, get rushed down river under the ice, are never heard from again, blah blah blah. So he lowers himself onto the ice and starts inching across. About half way through he stops. "Kim, take my picture!" "No, get the hell outta there before the ice breaks!" "I'm not moving until you take my picture!" And he's serious. So I grudgingly and hurriedly take out the camera. Once the shot is snaped I reach a stick out to him and pull him across (he's lost the means to propel himself further) and by some miracle he gets out fine. Oh, little brothers.