[ARCHIVED THREAD] - AAR: Falling Through Ice (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 2/18/2017 6:09:54 PM EDT
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TLDR: Watch cartoon video at end of post for life saving advice. Get your body horizontal to the ice/water.
I fell through the ice today, luckily it was on my way out so it didn't ruin my time.  Up to about my upper chest was drenched, I was about 40' from shore. 300 yards to the truck, 2 miles to home.
It was FAST. I mean instant. I was walking and don't even recall the crash through. Faster than a snap. I wasn't struck by how cold the water was, and it didn't steal my breath like people describe but my head didn't go under either.. My brain had three immediate thoughts. "Fuck, I'm in the water." followed immediately by, "Fuck my palms are killing me." And then of course, "Fuck, I have to get out of here." It was pretty surreal, like when you wake up somewhere foreign to you and have to take a second to get it together and figure out where you are. I was walking on the ice and then it was like that, like, "Where am I, what just happened?" My group was 200-300 yards behind me and there was a father and two young sons walking out 20 or so feet in front of me. All oblivious to this happening. My palms still kind of hurt while typing this. I'm certain it's because when the ice gave out and I was falling straight down my hands instinctively went forward and slapped down on the ice to stop me from going under. After a second or two in the water the surrealism effect wore away, I gained my composure and started going through the order of what I need to do to get out. I genuinely thought to myself I wasn't sure I could pull myself up because my hands hurt THAT bad. That was the only scary moment, and I think the scary thing was actually just the doubt. My K9 companion, Zeke, walked up at this moment all nonchelant, hunched down and licked my face. It made me genuinely laugh at the moment, too. I don't accredit that for anything corny like motivating me or saving my life or anything. It was just funny and how it happened, so I felt its worth mentioning. It did kind of snap me out of the surreal kind of moment I was having. Like "Fuck Zeke, get out of my way I need to get up there". My brain, as stupid as this sounds, went straight to this stupid cartoon video (at the bottom of this post). It might have saved my life so it's worth a watch. In my experience just now, I'd knock it down to three main bullet points. These are what saved my life. 1) Get your arms or some of your body on the ice and take a second to catch your breath and gain your composure. Tell yourself what you have to do next. 2) SLOWLY KICK YOUR LEGS LIKE YOURE SWIMMING. Not to get yourself out, the goal is to GET YOUR BODY FLAT ON THE SURFACE OF THE WATER and thus easier to pull out. 3) Palms flat to pull yourself out. People say if you don't have spikes to make fists and drag yourself out with the bottom of your fists. Fuck that. You get more surface area and you get to use your fingers if you feel a nub on the ice for leverage. I don't think I could have used the spikes, I had them around my neck. I didn't use them, at least, even if I could have. I was not taking my hands off the ice and my hands hurt to the point I didn't think I could hold them. It wasnt hard to get out with my body level with the ice. I just scooted my self up 6-12" at a time. I crawled a couple feet, stood up and called out to all the groups back on the ice that I fell through right here and to avoid the area on their way out. After everyone in ear shot acknowledged me I headed out the rest of the way. Got home, stripped down and spent a few minutes next to the wood stove. What struck me the most of the whole experience is that nobody noticed. It is that fast and it doesn't really make any noise. Unless someone is looking at you when it happens, you're on your own. I don't even remember hearing the ice break myself, and I penciled into the water so there is no grand splash. The father and his two sons right in front of me had no idea, and you probably won't have the lungs to call out. I looked at them after I got out and they were just walking the same direction, not a clue. When I called back to everyone else, they hardly believed me or seemed to recognize the gravity of my situation. They just didn't even realize it, didn't see it. It wasn't until an hour or so ago when my buddy called me on his way off the ice. He says to me over the phone, "Dude, I walked past your hole on the way out, how much did you fall in?" They thought I just went through with a foot or a leg or found a soft spot or something, they hadn't realized at the time that I was IN the water. It's very easy to see how people can die. Get your body horizontal, it's the biggest thing. You will likely not get out otherwise and even if there's someone right with you there's little they can do if you cant get control of those three steps. ETA: As Im typing this my buddy calls again, he's on shore warning people on their way in or out there is thin ice. Another person went in 40 yards west of where I did. He was NOT able to get himself out and needed to be pulled out by two people and a rope, and 911 was called. GET YOUR BODY HORIZONTAL!! I can't stress it enough. Heres two videos; the cartoon one is exactly what my brain flashed to and it was a life saver. The second one that I just found, although these guys are trying to make an educational video, in my experience, is exactly what NOT to do. Watch it. The real life guy tries using his legs to kick himself out of the water, he does not get his body horizontal. You will see how miserable of a time he has trying to get out and how much energy he exerts. It was almost effortless for me to get out following the advice of the cartoon video. The guys is thrashing around, getting water all over the ice making it slicker, burning energy et . For whatever its worth, I was a competetive swimmer when I was much younger and here is why I think the real life guy is an idiot. The hardest thing a swimmer does is keep his legs kicking while rowing their arms. I know it sounds stupid, but it is very hard to maintain a paddle with your feet while focusing on getting everything out of your arms. If you are trying to kick you're way out of the water, you are not coordinating your arms how you need to. Just use your legs to keep yourself as flat on the surface of the water as you can. Pull yourself out with your arms, even if it means your inch-worming your way out two inches at a time. What to do:  How To Survive A Fall Through Frozen Ice What not to do (even though they think otherwise):  Ice Safety - How To Perform A Self Rescue Face Licker: Attached File |
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Quoted:
Damn. Glad you are okay. I'm not an ice fisherman but I drive by the lake sometimes and think -- "you must be crazy to get on that ice" 
Yesterday, I saw 2 guys out there. Mind you, this is a small lake and half is open water, the other half is still iced over. This lake was fully covered except one small spot where the person has agitators in the water to prevent it from freezing against his nice block retaining wall. We were consistently drilling through 6-7" of ice all over the place. There must be current or a spring or something under where I went through. |
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Quoted:
Glad you are ok, OP. Also very glad that your pooch stayed topside. You definitely don't need the added complication of your dog in the water with you. Hes a nut. He actually jumped in a different lake farther south three or four weeks ago. Like 6 times. He seems to like it and/or is retarded. But yes, I agree. I certainly didn't need any more complications. |
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So you self-rescued completely? Good on you! Your friends are clueless. Lol, entirely. Yes they are, but I don't blame them really. I will certainly make it a habit of my own, now, though, that if someone is walking to shore or far from the group I will keep an eye on them until they are all the way there. |
Thanks for the AAR and damn glad you're ok. Falling through ice is one thing I'd be completely fine never experiencing. Quoted:
Hes a nut. He actually jumped in a different lake farther south three or four weeks ago. Like 6 times. He seems to like it and/or is retarded. But yes, I agree. I certainly didn't need any more complications. Quoted:
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Glad you are ok, OP. Also very glad that your pooch stayed topside. You definitely don't need the added complication of your dog in the water with you. Hes a nut. He actually jumped in a different lake farther south three or four weeks ago. Like 6 times. He seems to like it and/or is retarded. But yes, I agree. I certainly didn't need any more complications. About the dog licking your face after you went in - mine did the same thing. Some buddies and I were bass fishing in the middle of February a few years back. I was standing on the bow and running the foot control on the trolling motor when I hit a submerged stump. The boat stopped, I didn't. Face first over the bow into the water. I went OVER the top of a sharp cypress knee and remember thinking "I'm gonna hit that with my face" and then a split second later "I'm gonna hit that with my dick". Fortunately, I didn't hit it with anything.
I pop back up and grab the boat to haul myself in when I'm met with 60 pounds of excitedly licking Labrador. I had to push the dog out of the way to,finally get back aboard. The ride back in sucked. 
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Have some class and style OP. Falling through the ice while walking is so lame and ordinary!
If you're going to do it, bump it up a notch next time! It's far more exciting when you are flying along a frozen lake at 55mph and spot open water a couple seconds before you plunge in! You have just enough time for your brain to register that something potentially really bad is about to happen, and there is nothing you can do about it! You get additional style points if you are able to wait until the iceboat rolls onto its side so you can stay almost completely dry by crawling along the sail to solid ice! (Don't ask me how I know this) Attached File Btw, glad you are safe. |
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Thanks for the AAR and damn glad you're ok. Falling through ice is one thing I'd be completely fine never experiencing. About the dog licking your face after you went in - mine did the same thing. Some buddies and I were bass fishing in the middle of February a few years back. I was standing on the bow and running the foot control on the trolling motor when I hit a submerged stump. The boat stopped, I didn't. Face first over the bow into the water. I went OVER the top of a sharp cypress knee and remember thinking "I'm gonna hit that with my face" and then a split second later "I'm gonna hit that with my dick". Fortunately, I didn't hit it with anything.
I pop back up and grab the boat to haul myself in when I'm met with 60 pounds of excitedly licking Labrador. I had to push the dog out of the way to,finally get back aboard. The ride back in sucked. Ha, that's too funny. Glad you missed the stump! |
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Hes a nut. He actually jumped in a different lake farther south three or four weeks ago. Like 6 times. He seems to like it and/or is retarded. But yes, I agree. I certainly didn't need any more complications. Quoted:
Quoted:
Glad you are ok, OP. Also very glad that your pooch stayed topside. You definitely don't need the added complication of your dog in the water with you. Hes a nut. He actually jumped in a different lake farther south three or four weeks ago. Like 6 times. He seems to like it and/or is retarded. But yes, I agree. I certainly didn't need any more complications. I jumped off a cliffside into 36ºF water earlier this winter, and he went in right after me. |
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Have some class and style OP. Falling through the ice while walking is so lame and ordinary! If you're going to do it, bump it up a notch next time! It's far more exciting when you are flying along a frozen lake at 55mph and spot open water a couple seconds before you plunge in! You have just enough time for your brain to register that something potentially really bad is about to happen, and there is nothing you can do about it! You get additional style points if you are able to wait until the iceboat rolls onto its side so you can stay almost completely dry by crawling along the sail to solid ice! (Don't ask me how I know this) Btw, glad you are safe. Hahahaha wait till you hear this. I've back flipped on snowboards, and 360d on bikes all without injury. But I sprained my ankle walking across a parking lot. |
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Hahahaha wait till you hear this. I've back flipped on snowboards, and 360d on bikes all without injury. But I sprained my ankle walking across a parking lot. You know how to live! Btw, I was lucky, I only got wet up over my ankles. The rest of me stayed bone dry. |
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Fell through the ice on Geauga Lake for anyone in the NE Ohio are for reference. Lucky when the ice broke it wasn't I wasn't out far enough for it to be over my head. I was with a friend and we both panicked as some aswehitnthe water. We were fighting each other to get out. If it would have been in deeper water we would have died.Â
I will I'll never go out on a frozen lake again, and advise everyone else to stay off frozen lakes too. |
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Had a good friend of mine go through the ice with no one around. I was a pall bearer at his funeral. After that ice fishing lost all its appeal. RIP Larry S.  Wow, sorry to hear. I love warm weather fishing. I don't even really like ice fishing, I didn't even fish today. I just go out to get the dog out, grill some food and socialize. I really only actually ice fish if it's a tournament. I didn't drink anything today, either, because I had to drive after. But Ive drank before out on the ice. I don't think I'll ever do that again after this experience. |
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Fell through the ice on Geauga Lake for anyone in the NE Ohio are for reference. Lucky when the ice broke it wasn't I wasn't out far enough for it to be over my head. I was with a friend and we both panicked as some aswehitnthe water. We were fighting each other to get out. If it would have been in deeper water we would have died. I will I'll never go out on a frozen lake again, and advise everyone else to stay off frozen lakes too. When I was young we drove a car on the ice a few times while watching snowmobile races. I only go on ice now when I know it is really thick. |
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Three very good friends of mine have lost dads/uncles going under in Lake Huron
It's almost a culture around here, guys will go out even if there are people on land begging them not too. I love being on the ice more than anything but I don't push my luck like I used too....happens to fast. |
| I once had to hack my way through the ice to rescue my husky who fell through. It was 10 degrees that day and the ice was only about a inch thick. I used a ax and broke a path wading out into the water I was about crotch deep by the time I was able to grab the dog and throw it behind me. It physically did me in by the time I waded out and climbed into my running pickup I was toast. I called a family member before I did what I did. I probably wouldn't repeat that endeavor. |
| Myself and 2 other friends watched as another friend fell through a thin layer of ice on a pond, we were all about 10 years old at the time. The ice was way too thin to walk on but thick enough to keep him under the surface, we had nothing to help him with readily at hand and were ill prepared mentally to deal with the matter. It was an odd occurrence for ice to form on a lake in Georgia so none of us had anything more than common sense to guide us, except for the one in the water. We watched him die and couldn't or didn't do a damn thing about it, it was one of those moments that will be permanently etched in my mind and is often a point of regret for me. I wish I could have done something. |
| In my area 10 people have gone through this winter with 5 not making it. Current can be a bitch. Knowledge of your area can be a lifesaver. I have never been through but know a couple people who have. Every one of them echos your statement. You are through before you even know what happened and the cold is staggering. I do my best to only fish in areas I know very well and only when I deem the ice to be safe. I wont really fish on 4 inches or better. AS a reference, two inches of good black ice is enough to hold the average person. |
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When I was about 12 and my sister was 10 we were playing in the woods and Creek behind the house, she stepped to cross the creek and her foot went through the ice and I dragged her out, tore off her boot and socks and stuck her foot under my armpit and zippered up my snow suit till I could feel it getting warm again. I took off my socks and put them on her and stuffed my foot back into my boot
Then had to carry her a few hundred yards back to the house and my mom then freaked out and rushed her to the Dr and he said that it was quick thinking on my part to do that and that she would be fine. This was in the late 80's so we were in those awesome poly snow suits and plastic and nylon boots
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Fuck ice. I fell through on a beaver pond when I was a kid, only went down to mid chest. But fuck that.
My boss rode his tracked Bombardier Bombi to the bottom of a beaver pond last winter doing a stuck snowmobile recovery. -8F and two miles from the truck, lucky for him the guys that had the stuck snowmobile pulled him out and got him back to the truck in a few minutes. He stripped down bare and drove the flatbed 30 miles back to the shop, changed his clothes and loaded up our bigger tracked machine and headed right back out to go rescue the machine he left on the bottom. He told me it went down so fast and he was so cold he couldn't believe it.... I believed it.  Attached File |
| Never been ice fishing but I used to paddle pretty much year round and have flipped a canoe when there was snow on the ground and ice around the edges (my lousy bowman didn't call a rock, then he overcompensated for the hit). Ever since then I've always kept one or two of the Orion fire starters in each pfd and with my various gear bags or in a cargo pocket. Fine motor skills are gone after a dunking and trying to strike a match or flint and steel would be a chore to say the least; with the small flare you grab whatever wood you can, strike the cap and start a fire. I was in my teens and with my Boy Scout troop at the time so all I had to do was strip down, dry off, change clothes and get in my sleeping bag while they got a fire going but our scout master was a very good guy who taught us all an important lesson that day. |
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Been in the water more then I want to admit over the years..normally out running the trap line..several times over the years have involved -40 or colder and more then 25 miles from the cabin..
But this one of one of my buddies scared me the most...this was a group of us on a joy ride on a fresh 6 ft overnight snow....this was pretty early season but normally the creeks are froze...for some reason this one wasn't, and 6 ft of fresh powder can make something dangerous...We broke trail up thru this valley early evening, I was bringing up the rear when I realized we were short a helmet...I caught up to the closest rider and stopped him, told him we just lost a rider in the last 100 yards...so we go back to look closer, sure enough one of the younger guys had caught the creek crossing just right and it pitched him and the machine up and over in a cloud of snow...he landed flat on his back with the machine on top of him just as if he was still riding it..unfortunately, right in the creek...The machine was had him pinned in the water, and he couldn't move, except for tilting his head up just enough to get his nose out of the water....lucky for him, I always insist everyone in our group constantly checks for the rider right in front and right behind you while riding..it brought us two back within a minute or two, and the whole group with in five minutes..soon as my buddy and I got the sled up enough, he wiggled out from under it..Made sure he was ok, got him on my sled and had two buddies hustle him back to the parking lot, while the rest of us dug his sled out and got it running... Our original path was from the lower left corner of the pic, to the upper right corner......if you look close you can see part of the track at lower leg level... Attached File Attached File |
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Thanks for sharing some of your stories guys, and thanks for the kind words.
I hardly slept last night. The scenario kept running through my head over and over. I was awoken this morning by my best buddy texting me, asking if I wanted to go out on a different pond today. I told him he is a retard. It got up to 52 yesterday and didn't dip below 44 last night. It's scary, it's like trying to tell a heroin addict not to do it. He's just got an itch he can't scratch. 
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Quoted:
TLDR: Watch cartoon video at end of post for life saving advice. Get your body horizontal to the ice/water. I fell through the ice today, luckily it was on my way out so it didn't ruin my time. Up to about my upper chest was drenched, I was about 40' from shore. 300 yards to the truck, 2 miles to home.
It was FAST. I mean instant. I was walking and don't even recall the crash through. Faster than a snap. I wasn't struck by how cold the water was, and it didn't steal my breath like people describe but my head didn't go under either.. My brain had three immediate thoughts. "Fuck, I'm in the water." followed immediately by, "Fuck my palms are killing me." And then of course, "Fuck, I have to get out of here." It was pretty surreal, like when you wake up somewhere foreign to you and have to take a second to get it together and figure out where you are. I was walking on the ice and then it was like that, like, "Where am I, what just happened?" My group was 200-300 yards behind me and there was a father and two young sons walking out 20 or so feet in front of me. All oblivious to this happening. My palms still kind of hurt while typing this. I'm certain it's because when the ice gave out and I was falling straight down my hands instinctively went forward and slapped down on the ice to stop me from going under. After a second or two in the water the surrealism effect wore away, I gained my composure and started going through the order of what I need to do to get out. I genuinely thought to myself I wasn't sure I could pull myself up because my hands hurt THAT bad. That was the only scary moment, and I think the scary thing was actually just the doubt. My K9 companion, Zeke, walked up at this moment all nonchelant, hunched down and licked my face. It made me genuinely laugh at the moment, too. I don't accredit that for anything corny like motivating me or saving my life or anything. It was just funny and how it happened, so I felt its worth mentioning. It did kind of snap me out of the surreal kind of moment I was having. Like "Fuck Zeke, get out of my way I need to get up there". My brain, as stupid as this sounds, went straight to this stupid cartoon video (at the bottom of this post). It might have saved my life so it's worth a watch. In my experience just now, I'd knock it down to three main bullet points. These are what saved my life. 1) Get your arms or some of your body on the ice and take a second to catch your breath and gain your composure. Tell yourself what you have to do next. 2) SLOWLY KICK YOUR LEGS LIKE YOURE SWIMMING. Not to get yourself out, the goal is to GET YOUR BODY FLAT ON THE SURFACE OF THE WATER and thus easier to pull out. 3) Palms flat to pull yourself out. People say if you don't have spikes to make fists and drag yourself out with the bottom of your fists. Fuck that. You get more surface area and you get to use your fingers if you feel a nub on the ice for leverage. I don't think I could have used the spikes, I had them around my neck. I didn't use them, at least, even if I could have. I was not taking my hands off the ice and my hands hurt to the point I didn't think I could hold them. It wasnt hard to get out with my body level with the ice. I just scooted my self up 6-12" at a time. I crawled a couple feet, stood up and called out to all the groups back on the ice that I fell through right here and to avoid the area on their way out. After everyone in ear shot acknowledged me I headed out the rest of the way. Got home, stripped down and spent a few minutes next to the wood stove. What struck me the most of the whole experience is that nobody noticed. It is that fast and it doesn't really make any noise. Unless someone is looking at you when it happens, you're on your own. I don't even remember hearing the ice break myself, and I penciled into the water so there is no grand splash. The father and his two sons right in front of me had no idea, and you probably won't have the lungs to call out. I looked at them after I got out and they were just walking the same direction, not a clue. When I called back to everyone else, they hardly believed me or seemed to recognize the gravity of my situation. They just didn't even realize it, didn't see it. It wasn't until an hour or so ago when my buddy called me on his way off the ice. He says to me over the phone, "Dude, I walked past your hole on the way out, how much did you fall in?" They thought I just went through with a foot or a leg or found a soft spot or something, they hadn't realized at the time that I was IN the water. It's very easy to see how people can die. Get your body horizontal, it's the biggest thing. You will likely not get out otherwise and even if there's someone right with you there's little they can do if you cant get control of those three steps. ETA: As Im typing this my buddy calls again, he's on shore warning people on their way in or out there is thin ice. Another person went in 40 yards west of where I did. He was NOT able to get himself out and needed to be pulled out by two people and a rope, and 911 was called. GET YOUR BODY HORIZONTAL!! I can't stress it enough. Heres two videos; the cartoon one is exactly what my brain flashed to and it was a life saver. The second one that I just found, although these guys are trying to make an educational video, in my experience, is exactly what NOT to do. Watch it. The real life guy tries using his legs to kick himself out of the water, he does not get his body horizontal. You will see how miserable of a time he has trying to get out and how much energy he exerts. It was almost effortless for me to get out following the advice of the cartoon video. The guys is thrashing around, getting water all over the ice making it slicker, burning energy et . For whatever its worth, I was a competetive swimmer when I was much younger and here is why I think the real life guy is an idiot. The hardest thing a swimmer does is keep his legs kicking while rowing their arms. I know it sounds stupid, but it is very hard to maintain a paddle with your feet while focusing on getting everything out of your arms. If you are trying to kick you're way out of the water, you are not coordinating your arms how you need to. Just use your legs to keep yourself as flat on the surface of the water as you can. Pull yourself out with your arms, even if it means your inch-worming your way out two inches at a time. What to do:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLQB0WpTvJk
What not to do (even though they think otherwise): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKpAzvXSldA
Face Licker: https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/252780/IMG-0865-149198.JPG Thanks for the video link the end was really informative, 'Don't be dumbass and walk on the ice'. Great advice.... |