Wayne and I took advantage of the VT State Parks New Years Day hike event this year. On the way to Lowell Lake, I waffled between: we should be fine with day hikers to I wish that we had brought our snowshoes. There was a family headed towards the parking lot when we arrived who warned us that the trail was too icy to hike. With that, Wayne rummaged in his pack and pulled out two pairs of spikes that I didn't know we owned. "Did you bring your bear bell too?" I later asked and of course he had. I for my part, had packed the Maine Salt Water Taffy that Kirk had given me for Christmas. One can never be too prepared after all. This time of year it's hard to know what to expect when traveling outside of your regular trails. A trail marked family friendly / easy to moderate difficulty can turn on a dime when weather is involved and I have the bruised knees this morning to prove it.
Crazy as it sounds, one morning last week, we drove past the setback on 142 and saw someone setting Tip-ups in an area that looked like it required a boat to reach it. Wayne never thinks it's a big deal for people to be on the setback in these conditions because the water isn't very deep there. I however, wasn't quite convinced that this fisherman was being safe and hoped that he had brought an extra pair of dry underwear.
On New Year's eve, I suggested to Wayne that we walk over to Hatchery pond to check out the ice. What we found appeared to be rotten ice and I wasn't about to venture out on it. What I mean by rotten ice is that it appears white from freezing and thawing and freezing again. Of course, given a few frigid days this ice can be pretty safe to walk on if it is a minimum of four inches thick. Ice that has gone through the freeze thaw cycle also tends to vary in thickness so it's important to be aware of what you are standing on. My grandfather used to carry a long heavy ice chisel to make his fishing holes in Lake Champlain. His chisel also served to test the ice prior to walking further out on it.
I was a Girl Scout leader for years in Hinsdale, NH and every year without fail, our scouts voted to complete two badges, camping and ice skating. In order to gain permission from council, leaders needed to first complete leader training prior to arranging for the scouts to take their own training. Ice safety training was required even if we were planning on skating at the Memorial park indoor ice rink. It was a logistics nightmare and I think that we only managed to go skating one time. I did end up taking numerous trainings in those years, none of which however, prevented me from falling through the ice at Lily pond.
Trees and rocks and beaver lodges for that matter, are solar collectors and as a result the ice is thinner in areas around them. It's best to say clear from them. Both of these pictures are of Vernon's Hatchery pond.
Some may mistakenly believe that ice stretching across a body of water doesn't move. However, one sign that the ice is thawing or shifting is that there is open water between the shore and the ice. Wind and waves move ice as seen in the second picture above, where rings are visible on Hatchery pond. It's also important to understand that water levels rise and fall beneath the ice not only on rivers and streams, but also on ponds and lakes due to tributaries, distributaries and even hydro electric dams letting water out. I remember as a teenager, my sister wanting to get out on the broad ice, first needed to climb over a line of tall frozen waves. While she managed to get to the top of the waves, she quickly slid down the opposite side right into the frigid water on the other side! In years that there weren't frozen waves, we used to lay boards across the gap. Water moves, ice moves, water levels change and thickness varies.
As I mentioned above I once took an unexpected trip to the bottom of Lily pond. Thank goodness I ran out of depth before getting my armpits wet! Wayne and the kids had been cross country skiing on the pond while I wandered around on foot. The five of them traversed the north side of the pond prior to my walking there and were headed away at a good clip. When I felt myself going down I screamed "hey!" By the time they looked around, I was already standing on the bottom. Nothing makes you come up with a plan quite as fast as when you are in icy water. I stretched my arms out over the ice, floated my legs up and kicked until most of me was laying on the ice. I then rolled away from the hole until I thought the ice would hold me. It was a long walk home with plenty of time for conversation about how I had scared them to death when I yelled and why had I yelled at all? Here's the thing, when planning to go on the ice, always tell someone that you are headed out, always go with a friend and always go prepared for unexpectedly going through. Why did I yell? I yelled because I wanted them to know where I went through in case I went under (I might have even been a bit scared).
When Helen took up ice fishing in Maine, for her birthday she asked for an ice fishing chair (we used milk crates with a rope tied to it as a kid). I got her the chair, but I also included a pair of ice fishing picks. These picks thread in one jacket sleeve, across your back and out the other sleeve. Should you go through the ice, they are at hand for you to hit them against the ice which extends the metal pick. If she ever goes through in deep water, hopefully she will be able to pull herself up onto the ice.
If I had been in deeper water at Lily pond without ice picks, I may have needed the help of my family to get out. They hadn't gone through the ice because their weight was distributed across their skis while all of my weight was on my feet. Reach, throw, row, go is the order lifeguards use when rescuing a swimmer in trouble. Going into the water is always the last resort. My family had on them, items that they could have reached with. Scarves, ski poles and skis could have been extended towards me while the rescuer is laying down on the ice; but that might have put them too close to the weakened ice and they risk falling through. Not having a rope or floatation device to throw to me or a watercraft, "go" would have been the fifth step. I say fifth step because when someone goes through the ice, the first step is always to call 911. Rapid loss of body temperature or Hypothermia not only compromises the victim's chances of survival but also threatens the would be rescuer in a matter of minutes. Having decided as a last resort to "go" they could form a human ladder by laying down on the ice with the person at the head of the ladder extending the ski pole to me and the person furthest away prepared to pull everyone away from the hole. The bottom line is, that it's better to wait for help for one victim than to become the second victim.
On our New Years Day Hike at Lowell lake, Wayne stepped out onto a short dock to get a better view of the lake. I walked out to join him causing the dock to send out a loud spider web of cracks through the ice before it dropped an inch. Wayne and I decided in a hurry to get off of the dock and continue on with our hike. About fifteen minutes later we saw two groups of people fishing and playing across the lake on the opposite shore. On our way home, we drove past the Retreat Meadows which was filled with skaters and fishermen and many folks who looked as if they had made the spontaneous decision to join the fun. Both of the setbacks on 142 had sportsmen, children and dogs spread out across them and when I checked the Vernon Vermont Facebook page, someone had posted how wonderful it was to see children skating on the pond. Twenty four hours earlier, I decided not to walk out onto Hatchery pond and on New Years Day the ice appeared to be safe on Lily pond. The truth is however, "Ice is never 100% safe."*
It's January 2nd and after a night of snow, with a morning of sleet and a high temperature in the low 40s, we decided to take a walk to Lily pond to check out the ice. On the way we noted that there was standing water on the farm field. It seems however, that the only one besides us checking out the ice today was a Bobcat. -Norma Manning
Resources:
*
General Ice thickness guidelines, MN Department of Natural Resources
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