<human>: One winter when I was in 7th grade my friend and I were taking our time walking to school through some small woods. There was a lake nearby with a stream feeding it. 

We decided to go walk around on the ice for fun since we had some time to kill. Going out on the ice was all fun and dandy, but while I was busy farting around my friend had wandered off towards the still liquid area of the lake surrounding where the stream enters the water. 

I yelled to be careful, etc, but he wasn't too bright and boom falls straight through the ice. 

So now he's yelling for help, he's been fully submerged, but thankfully he was able to grab ahold of the edge and get his elbows up. He's freaking out for me to help him , but I knew that if I got to close I'd fall in too. 

There weren't any big branches near by, but I grew up in AK so I was relatively experienced around ice (he was from Texas) so I laid flat and slid slowly out towards him. At first I tried to reach him with my hand, but I remember being worried about getting pulled in also so I then swung my empty backpack at him and he was able to grab ahold of it. I guess my body weight and his adrenaline were enough for him to pull himself out. 

We then rushed back to my house to get him changed. 

I've been a lifeguard for many years, so I often have to save people, but this is by far the most real like (and untrained) life saving event that's ever occurred to me.

Can you succinctly summarize the text in 1-3 sentences?
<bot>: We were 7th graders in the winter. My friend fell through thin ice and I was able to save him.