Minimum Ice Thickness for 1-ton load?

[nickmech]

Ineresting subject. Lived in Alaska for many years and spent lot of time on ice. Fishing, walking, driving. Loved standing in the middle of a lake in the night and listening to the ice "crack", and moan. That being said, I want very cold temps. and 4-6" for walking and 10-12" for driving. Size of lake makes a difference and history. Sad story when some young kids fall thru and die though.

 

[john_bud]

This reminds me of the story (urban legend?) of the guy that was having a romantic evening on the lake in an ice shack when his wife discovered him and his "ice fishing pal". She quitely went home and got 2 50# bags of rock salt and circled the vehicle and ice shack with salt and went home.


jb

 

[MossRoad]

Ineresting subject. Lived in Alaska for many years and spent lot of time on ice. Fishing, walking, driving. Loved standing in the middle of a lake in the night and listening to the ice "crack", and moan. That being said, I want very cold temps. and 4-6" for walking and 10-12" for driving. Size of lake makes a difference and history. Sad story when some young kids fall thru and die though.

Yeah. The sky is completely dark due to the clouds. The breeze makes the brush along shore hiss like a snake and so does the icy snow that hits the back of your parka. You can't see past the edge of the lantern glow and you swear the coyotes are just on the other side of the darkness. Sitting on an upside down plastic pail, wondering what the heck you are doing out there in 15 below temps in the dark and then BOOOM!!! the ice cracks so hard you feel it in your seat and the willies go up and down your spine.... FISH ON!

 

[Rara Avis]

This is what we worked with when I took my Ice Rescue Technician Course
Ice........Thickness
(inches) Permissible Load (clear, blue, lake ice)
2...........One person on foot
3...........Group, in single file
5...........Group (6-8 people) together
7½........Passenger car (2 ton gross)
8...........Light truck (2½ ton gross)
10.........Medium truck (3½ ton gross)
12.........Heavy truck (7 to 8 ton gross)
15.........10 tons
20.........25 tons
25.........45 tons
30.........70 tons

With Rivers and Moving Water...all bets are off...

 

[Danno1]

.

I slept on L Winnepesaukee many years ago. Was very spooky hearing the booming right next to your ear. Wasn't sure how much good it would've been, but I did keep my dive knife in the sleeping bag w me. And we moved the vehicles 50-100 feet away fr the tents. Found out the next day when we went diving that the ice was ~24 in thick. No problem!

.

 

[keeney]

I wouldn't drive any vehicle on a lake until at least 2 weeks after the last report of a vehicle going through.

The tricky part is judging the 2 weeks before the first one goes through in the spring.

Some things to give yourself a better chance if you do go through the ice:

1. Roll windows down.

2. Unbuckle seatbelt.

3. Have some kind of ice pick or knife handy to pull youself out with.

4. Wear a drysuit. If you have that, heck bring your scube grear too.

5. Call your insurance guy, the bank, a towing company that specializes in extracting cars from the ice, and the DNR to know exactly how much you will owe on your vehicle, retrieval and fines (it will likely be a total loss plus some).

Some advice on areas to avoid:

- anyplace any other vehicle has ever gone through.

- anyplace that you ever see open water when the rest of the lake is frozen

- any narrow places where currents get magnified. Like a narrow channel between too larger bodies of water.

- near the shore is usually worse than in the middle

- any ice that appears "dark" or black.

- any ice that has standing water on top of it, even if its white.

- popluar fishing areas where many holes have been drilled

- deep snow insulates ice. Clear-blown areas are likely to be thicker and stronger.

- don't park vehicles in groups.



Intersting thing is in Minnesota that encourages this sort of thing is that the public access often has limited amount of parking on the lakes popular for ice fishing. However, because Minnesota lakes are a considered public navigation resource, there are no limitations on parking on the waters surface even when frozen. Thus its common to see a bunch of people parked on the edge of the lake near the access and then walking out to their ice houses or dragging their portable ice fishing tents.

 

[blueriver]

Do they still have the contest in the North where they put the car out on the lake and near spring take bets kinda like a football board on the day and time it will go thru the ice in the spring?

 

[john_bud]

Interesting seeing this post again.

This week a ice fisherman on a lake he was familiar with went thru on a atv - died. General ice is 7-12", but he found a thin spot that wasn't there in prior years. Today a guy on a snowmobile went thru a different lake - died.

This is in Chippewa Co WI.

Neither of these guys were young'uns. The ATV'er was 60!

jb

 

[Rara Avis]

Do they still have the contest in the North where they put the car out on the lake and near spring take bets kinda like a football board on the day and time it will go thru the ice in the spring?

No car, but a chance to win fame and fortune...

Joe's Pond in VT is one of the better know contests...

Joe's Pond Vermont

Here's is an article that describes Joe's Pond and other contests...


LubbockOnline.com - Boredom and silliness fuel ice outs in winter 03/31/07

 

[Tig]

5. Call your insurance guy, the bank, a towing company that specializes in extracting cars from the ice, and the DNR to know exactly how much you will owe on your vehicle, retrieval and fines (it will likely be a total loss plus some).

Good advice. I think in Ontario you will find that you have lost your vehicle. Insurance will not cover and the vehicle is for salvage only. Ministry of the environment will fine you for the contamination and bill you for the clean up and recovery. Of course if alcohol is involved it just gets worse. Learned this from a newspaper article about a guy who tried to jump his truck off the pier in Belleville onto the Bay of Quinte.