Fell through the ice last night

[jpswift1]

That certainly was an epic adventure! Great story for sure......you should submit that to Argo for them to use as a customer testimonial. Thanks for posting it up and glad you made it back safely.

And RockDr, those are some scary looking pics! I try and stay away from ice exactly for this reason.......that's quite a hole!

[Bud]

I am glad that you got out and made it home. That is a well written account.

[Rock Doctor]

I love it when a plan comes togeather

Those Air pockets can be deadly

Here is one I found, while quading with my wife. It was 3-4 feet down to about 2 feet of rushing water. Easily fast and deep enough to wash a guy under the ice if you fall in:





RD

[nairb35]

This fall during deer hunting we crossed the creek on my buddys marsh and we went in 5' of water.We both had waders on (just in case)Right before dark.Thottle cable froze so I 'm reaching in engine compartment to use thottle buddys driving(mistake,lack of experince)so after trying to back on to ice,(no tracks)and go forward onto ice,no luck. So we both jump in and lift the max's front end onto ice, I reach into engine compartment to operate thottle. Max gets back on ice then we climb onto ice get back in max and go to camp I did not think to chop a hole in ice and hook winch to a log under ice. You said you wish you would have taken pictures but just telling our experiances to each other helps us learn what works and what doesn't, thanks for posting.

[Scottw]

Burrrrr....

Glad you made it back safe.

note to self: add axe to emergency kit

[hydromike]

Wow.... just....wow. That's one heck of an adventure. And you did all this at -13F? Yikes.

Very glad you both and the Argo made it home safely.

Great writeup....

~m

[number1cas]

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 60Mph We 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 enough We 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!"