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Around here the lakes are very common and mostly shallow, and the brush is thick. So aside
from ice fishing and skating, the lakes see a lot of vehcle and foot traffic.

The quality of the ice is a huge factor. 6" of bubbly ice might give way under you, but 1/2" of clear ice is plenty to walk on. If there is snow cover on the ice it will freeze very slowly, but bare ice can thicken very quickly. So, if conditions are windswept and snowy, assume thickness will not be uniform.

TheOrglingLlama wrote:Rule #1 : You first

+1!

Four inches for a vehicle sounds ludicrous to me.....I grew up and lived in Minnesota for twenty years and I would have never driven across four inches.....

Rule of thumb where I grew up consisted of:

4 inches is normally safe for walking across, when I was younger and only weighed about 120 lbs I would venture onto ice that was about 2 inches.
6 inches is safe for snowmobiling
8 to 12 inches was alright for a small sized vehicle....although I usually liked to have at least 12 inches if riding or driving a vehicle.

As said before, the thickness will vary depending where your at on the lake....the thinnest ice is usually found nearest the shoreline. The biggest danger you can encounter is an unexpected spring that makes the ice unusally thinner than the surrounding ice. Also, heavy snowfalls early during the freezing process can substantially weaken the ice making it much weaker.

If in doubt then just stay away....falling through is an extremely unpleasant experience.

I'm not one to drive on the ice but most people up here don't really give it much thought. I can walk up to people while snowshoeing and ask, "catching anything?"



This is just outside my door.

the merrimac ferry? I wasnt aware that the river froze hard enough there to drive across it. I knew the ferry stopped in winter.

I grew up in sun prairie outside of madison by the way.

Anyways, yeah. Back home i've ice fished on 3 inches of ice a bunch of times, couldn't break that stuff if you wanted to. Most people will get too afraid to step on ice long before it wont hold, the main danger is thickness variability. Dont assume that because it is a foot thick in one spot the entire lake is safe.

Make sure you have the right gear.

I've seen idiots walking on 3 inches of ice here in the higher elevations of Arizona.

If Linus, Lucy and Snoopy can do it ....

TheOrglingLlama wrote:Rule #1 : You first

Looks bomber to me, dude...

Clydascope wrote:Make sure you have the right gear.

What's the hardest thing about learning to ice skate??

Telling your friends your gay

lcarreau wrote:I've seen idiots walking on 3 inches of ice here in the higher elevations of Arizona.

3" is plenty for a snowmobile, if it's clear, hard ice. If there's 3" around here, we have a hockey game going.

That's not to say that I'd cross a 1" thick ice covering in the backcountry - even if it was 6" at the shore I'd be cautious, since falling in there would likely be deadly. But, in my decades of skiing, skating, and fishing on lakes, I've never seen anyone fall in.

Good:

DudeThatMustHurt wrote:What's the hardest thing about learning to ice skate??

Telling your friends your gay

Them's fightin' words Dude!

I saw at one of those programmes of that guy who survives in all kind circumstances the following rules:

4cm is supossed to stand the weight of an adult person (but I think that's very thin!)

then he told to take out your backpack and hold it in front of you meanwhile you are advancing lying on the ice (to spread your weight on the maximal surface)...so you actually creep over the ice.

Ice is thinner at the shores than in the center, because ice starts freezing from the center to the sides, so watch out stepping in en out of the water...

and if you fall, use the backpack as a short of anchor to hold on the ice in front of you and try to get out by lying on the back-pack.

If you are wet, get dry as soon as possible (taking off wet clothes) and starting a fire...

I hope this is useful

Gracias por los consejos Jon, son buenos