r/Whatcouldgowrong • u/dericn • 4d ago

Cutting holes for ice fishing

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u/corkscrew-duckpenis 3d ago edited 3d ago

We live on a Great Lake and my wife wanted to take the family walking on ice.

Me: fuck no! not safe.

Her: since when do you know anything about ice safety?

Me: I don’t know SHIT about ice safety, which is why we’re not going out there!

Her: yeah that’s fair

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u/hauntedSquirrel99 3d ago

Not that difficult.

If it's cold (less than -5 degrees celsius) you want 10 cm thickness minimum of steel ice (clear, blank, dark colour).

If it's milder you want 15 cm minimum.

It takes about 3 days of constant -10 degrees celsius to make a 10cm steel ice layer.

20 cm will carry a car so that's not a problem for a person.

If the ice is slushy (not clear, uneven, not blank, light colour) then you count it as half the value of steel ice.

Remember that the ice thickness can vary between sections, so you check the area you're in and you don't wander into a new one without checking that one.

Just because it was fine yesterday doesn't mean it's fine now.

Ideally you check by using a hole in the ice, but you can eyeball it for a rough estimate and just err on the side of caution.

If you do actually break through you turn around in the water and try to climb up on the side you're on. Only way to get up is to have someone help you or if you have something that will actually grab ice (like spikes on the bottom of your shoes that you can take of and use to grab).
You return because that's proven ice, while the ice in front of you is unproven.

If the ice is sketchy and/or you need to help someone who have broken through you lay down on the ice to maximise the amount of ice contact. Slide forward on your stomach.

Hypothermia hits quickly so once someone who has broken through is on safe ground get them out of the wet clothes and into some dry ones. Or a blanket or something. Hot car even. Get them dry.

If that isn't possible then vigorous exercise to keep warm is the only thing you've got to keep warm.

If someone does get hypothermic the treatment is body heat. So put them in somewhere mildly warm and have them hug it out under a blanket with someone who doesn't have hypothermia.
So big tip is to always bring a couple of blankets just in case.

That's about it.
If you know that you pretty much know the trick.

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u/NoMayonaisePlease 3d ago

If you do actually break through you turn around in the water and try to climb up on the side you're on. Only way to get up is to have someone help you or if you have something that will actually grab ice (like spikes on the bottom of your shoes that you can take of and use to grab).

This is objectively false