Last December I read many of the stories in this thread to my wife. We had some great laughs at everyone else’s expense (esp the locked out naked in field story!). Both of us counted our blessing that we hadn’t ever gone through.
Well, we were both ‘baptized’ on FG last February. My wife is one that often reacts strongly to surprises. She credits her survival to watching the video’s linked to in this thread. A much watch for all ice fisherman IMO. Despite how stinging cold the water was, despite it completely taking away our breath, both of us were able to keep calm because of the knowledge shared in the video.
Just a reminder for those who will be ‘testing’ out ice for the first time this weekend - be careful. Falling through definately can be lethal.
The story as I wrote it down a couple days later:
Well, I’m a little reluctant to admit it as the ego is still quite bruised and beaten. But, my wife and I went for an unintentional swim this weekend on Flaming Gorge.
The good news though is our phones are ok!!! Mine was in my hand as I was using it as a gps to navigate to an underwater point. Once I went in (up to my neck), I held it up until I could slide it onto safe ice. My wife’s smartphone was not as lucky. It got pretty wet being underwater for a minute or so in her jacket pocket, and had to be gingerly coaxed back to life after drying out. Fortunately though, both our smart phones are continuing to work well and don’t seem to be too badly impacted by the whole ordeal! Such an experience could really cause havoc on electronics – even death.
We were on the Big Bend area of Flaming Gorge, riding an ATV to our planned spot about a mile away. The ice appeared to be at least 10-12 inches thick all over except a couple open spots right along shore. There were pressure ridges and gaps that had refrozen, and I ended up stopping the ATV and getting off a couple times to check the ice at such spots and verify it was thick and solid before proceeding. All was well until about a tenth of a mile from our planned spot. Open water about 10 feet wide blocked out path, and I wasn’t willing to “drive around” it. It was dusk, and we would be making our way back in the dark. I didn’t want to even consider trying to navigate around that in the dark.
So, I turned back and headed to an alternate point closer to the vehicle. It was getting rather dark by this time, and I was pretty cautious about anything that appeared to be a pressure ridge or expansion crack, realizing that the wind was opening up some of these spots where there was open water to work on.
I ended up coming really close to shore on our way. We were within a hundred yards of our destination spot when I realized we were within feet of shore. I turned to head back to deeper water, and was creeping along slowly (about walking pace), watching the ice in front of me as well as I could in the headlights.
There was no warning, no ridge, no visible evidence of ice that had recently reformed over an expansion crack. Whatever the cause, there was a patch where the ice was thinner than the ice on either side of an ATV-length area. It all happened so fast, it is hard to recall exactly what happened, but I do recall sensing the front wheels cracking in. I recall hoping that it would just be a small thin area of an expansion crack, and at worst, the front wheels would go in, and we would have to get off and pull the 4wheeler back up onto the solid ice.
No such luck.
In one fluid motion, once the machine started to sink in, and it just kept going, plunging straight into water about 12-15 ft deep. And COLD!!!
I recall pushing my wife back towards the ice we came from, and I recall it being quite a struggle to get myself to solid ice. Treading water in the bulky clothes and boots among ice chunks was surprisingly difficult. I made the mistake of not turning and going back to the ice I came from, but that turned out to be ok as the ice on the other side of the hole was well solid enough for me to climb out on. (ironically, it was plenty solid enough for the ATV as well) My wife got out with the assistance of friends that were with us, and I climbed out on my own.
It was a friend’s ATV that I drove into the lake, and once I was out of the water and got over the shock of the feeling of stinging needles poking into my skin everywhere (especially my legs), I was thinking about the ATV. It didn’t sink to the bottom as my sled and hitch was holding the rear end just under the surface. I tied off a piece of rope to the hitch on the machine, and tied the other end to a tent ice screw I anchored in the ice.
According to the GPS, we went in 0.42 miles from the car. It was now dark except for moonlight, and the wind was blowing a steady 20 mph or so. By the time we got back to the car, much of our clothing was frozen except at the moving joints. When I tried taking off my jeans were frozen stiff from the knee down, and quite difficult to get my foot through.
Well, we got changed, warmed up in the car for a half hour or so while friends went back and got my sled and all the equipment, and brought it back. By that time we were mostly warmed, and decided to go fishing rather than waste any more of the evening! My wife is pretty damn amazing. I dunk her in ice water at night, and within an hour or so, she’s still willing/wanting to go fishing on ice!
Because I tied off the machine before disconnecting my sled, it was possible to pull it out the next morning when light. We didn’t want to try to mess with it in the dark, so waited until morning. Well, I’ve got a lot of repair work to do now. But at least it isn’t polluting the lake, and there is some chance of restoring it.
Note: Over the next several days, I pulled much of the ATV apart, drained and changed the oil about 6 times running it and warming it up inbetween changes, cleaned it all up, dried every electrical connection, and it runs just fine. No evidence yet a year later that it is worse for the wear.
