Well, yesterdays ride did not go quite as planned, we headed out down a powerline, then onto a large river to save some time, we were heading for a set of falls that look spectacular in the winter. I have been to them several times by boat and once by snowmachine, however this was many years ago. One big diffrence in the Argo is speed, so the trip was of course longer than I remembered at 60MphWe continued along the river and found a narrow spot that was all open water, shoot, should have stayed on the powerline. Now it was too late to backtrack to the powerline as it would be dark soon. So we headed for home. Try again another day.
So we are heading down the river with the throttle on cruise control ( a short bungee around the throttle) when all of a sudden, CRASH and the rear right side falls about a foot and the Argo starts to take a MEAN right turn. Now I can see water on the right side and the left is still on the ice, we are at a very steep side angle. I know that this is a fatal angle for an Argo, so I tell Diane to get the zippers were bailing, She is in a bit of a panic right now and is having some trouble with them. I lean over her and fire the front zipper open. Now I realize that the throttle is still wide open I reachback and twist the throttle closed. Now for the other zipper, I jump over top of her for the back zipper and CRACK, SPLASH, the left side falls through the ice. Okay, now we are sitting level, a quick check for how much water we took in, hardly any. The snow piles up against the top on my wood mudflaps and the water had turned them into a huge ice dam all around the back of the Argo basically helping seal it. Alright, now I get the girlfriend calmed down and get her to realize that we are now just a boat, everything is okay.
Time to survey the situation. We hit an air pocket in the ice, behind us is about 3" of ice and it is about 4" above the flowing water, all around us are chunks of ice about 5" thick. Now those of us with ice expierience know whats next... No way am I climbing onto the ice from here. So grab the 2 axes, climb out the side onto the track and then the hood and jump for good ice. Walk 300 yards to the shore, chop a 6" tree into a 4' long piece, walk back the Argo. Have the girlfriend run the winch cable out and chop a hole, now there is 12" of ice here so I am covered with water with quickly turns to a layer of ice all over me. Hook the winch cable to the log and set it into the hole. We try to winch on it and it just pops out of the hole twice. So I decide that since it is now dark, it is time to sacrifice the winch cable if needed, so I push the log out the bottom of the hole, locking it under the ice. Diane tries winching onto the ice and it just keeps lifting the left side onto the ice and the right drops under causing an exterme angle, so back it off. A minute of thought and I chop a ramp into the edge of the ice in front of the right track. She tries again and POP out it comes.
So now we are on solid ground and all is well again. I decide that i can not sacrifice the cable as I may need it again (we are 40 miles from home here) so off goes the jacket and I reach down through the ice to my armpit and untie the cable from the log. It is -25C (-13F) so it is not that cold but cold enoughWe roll in the cable, pack the axes away and pull out some dry gloves for me and off we go. We made it home with no problem from here. During the drive I look over at Diane and say "DAMN we should have taken pictures!
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