Fell through the ice last night

[Rock Doctor]

I've heard that's a pretty incredible sight, thankfully I've not experienced it myself. My brother described it to me though, He was working building an Ice Road, and his boss was driving a D6 Bulldozer across the river. The pressure wave smashed the ice at the ege of the river, and a crack raced straight to the D6. The Bulldozer dropped through the ice, and vanished. My brother and one other guy ran to the hole, and caught a glimps of a boot in the water. Brother grabbed the boot, low and behold, his boss was still in it. They got the guy out and dried off, he was shaken but alright. Brother got a big dinner, thank you plaque, big story in the paper, ect.
As far as I know, and it's been probably over 10yrs, they have never recovered the Bulldozer.


RD

[number1cas]

Well, Last week I decided to try and complete this ride to the falls, so off I went with a buddy in the passenger seat. To save time we were scooting down the side of the river again, this time close to the edge instead of the middle. All was going well untill about an hour in. We were just passing a small bay when we both noticed, out the left window, the snow starting to swirl. I thought "wow, that wind must be kicking up out there" That thought qiuckly changed when the ice "exploded" up into the air and we could see a huge crack heading diagonally towards us! I hollered out "which way is it heading" trying to think a way out. The speed that it was moving was no match for the Argo though,it would have overtaken us no problem if it hadn't of stopped. Once it did, we turned and had a look, seems the ice was thin and the Argo was pushing a bow wave in the ice, once that wave found a weak spot, it caused the ice to explode. It was one of the neatest things I have ever seen.

Needless to say, I decided that this river is not very safe to travel on, even in an Argo, so we headed for the power line and followed it the rest of the way. We did get to the falls just at dusk, so now I will have to go 1 more time so that I can have daylight to take some pics.

[middlewick]

Check out this video someone on the OOD fishing board.

YouTube - Argo comes out of water, back onto the ice! Amazing stuff whole ice fishing

[muskwa]

I am now planning on building an "ice spike" of some sorts, want to be able to hammer it into the ice with the axe and hook winch to it

quite the scare im sure! i did come across one time an ice anchor or ice screw of some sort that rock climbers use to prevent falls. it just screws in the ice and pretty much acts like a core bit. look em up if i remember correctly their was certain ones that were about an inch across and about 10 inches long. if it can handle the momentum of a falling climber im sure it would have some use in the gear bag. anyways lets hope you never have to deal with that again

[simpleman]

just a thought i'm an ice fisherman we drill or chop a hole in thick ice then drop a straight pole or pipe turn sideways so it's across and thats a wind anchor i'm thinking if you had a hinged pole like a t the top that sticks out you could hook too above the ice a foot you'de have an anchor anywhere on ice just an idea and it wouldn't take up alot of space

[flyer05]

Rock Doctor a cracked seat is not a bad thing. When the air temp rises and the back pressure rises it might become too much, if not for a crack.

[Rock Doctor]

LOL! Yeah that was a "warm" winter day, all last week was -40C (-40F) so we were looking forward to a nice day to ride, I worked the nightshift the night before 6:30 pm to 6:00 am so we got a late start around 12:30. It gets dark right now around 4:30 to 5:00.

Oh, you got that too? I tried to take one of my machines out for a little ride at -39 last week. My tire pressure dropped as the air temp in them cooled off, and as I brought it back in the shop, my seat cracked when I got out

RD

[number1cas]

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

LOL! Yeah that was a "warm" winter day, all last week was -40C (-40F) so we were looking forward to a nice day to ride, I worked the nightshift the night before 6:30 pm to 6:00 am so we got a late start around 12:30. It gets dark right now around 4:30 to 5:00.

[Mike]

Great story. That was entertaining. I'm glad that you both are ok.

[Don]

That was scarey. Glad everybody's okay, and you even saved the winch cable! Great story.

[lewis]

Wow! Great story. Glad all ended well. How's the girls friend and does she want to ride again? Thanks for posting!!

[Model Citizen]

That was an incredibly good ending outing. You ARE your girlfriend's Hero.

Bridget

[amphibious drew]

Loved the story!!! Glad you made it home alright. Thank you so much for sharing it. Better get the girlfriend an AATV as well so you have a back up vehicle next time. Also make it instinct to grab the axe ice pick. You only have 2 hands and if you gab both axes you will be left with no ice pick.

[number1cas]

Yeah, I carry matches in my pocket as I have learned that they are no good to you if they go down with the craft. Also have learned to grab the axe #1 it's almost reflex. I was trying to get the door open and realized I had 2 axes in my hand !! LOL!
I am now planning on building an "ice spike" of some sorts, want to be able to hammer it into the ice with the axe and hook winch to it. You may not always have as much time as I did to walk to shore and cut a tree and chop a hole. I have a plan in my head and will post pics of the build once I get going on it. It will be small and light so it is easy to carry on board and grab when needed.

Also playing with the idea of square tubing across the front and rear, hinged to lay flat against the sides when not in use. They would fold out on both sides, front and rear to give an outrigger arm on all 4 corners, this should stop it from tipping to far when you go through and stabilize you until you can get back onto the ice. Or maybe I will just stay closer to the shore

Well off to fire up the lathe for the ice hook.....

Thanks for all the nice comments.

[mightymaxIV]

Very scary, it's things like this that have made me decide that I need another AATV with me when I am out on an swamp adventure. Any extreme angle climbing a log or going over a stump can cause you to take on water. Snow and ice are worse since the conditions can be life threating if you have a break down. What would have happened if you fell through the ice? Oh, bad, bad. Travel in pairs AATV fans, you never know! Thank God you made it out alright!