Ice Check

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At Lakeice there is more than you need to know about ice.

Step on the ice. If it does not support you, draw conclusions. Maybe you can step over a moat or thin ice to a thicker ice sheet. Again, if the ice does not support you without cracking, it is not strong enough to explore.

Chop a block from a representative part of the ice sheet. Keep in mind you are only learning about the ice where you check it. Use a hatchet or an axe.

A block chopped from the ice makes it easy to verify ice type. Re frosted ice is never as strong as ice which has always remained below frost. Once there is a visible vertical structure established within the ice, the ice is not as strong, even after it has refrozen.

Hammer blows from the back of an axe can indicate ice strength. Clear hard strong ice below frost yields to the blow of an axe to show radiating cracks and a cone. Transformed ice may simply punch out beneath the axe. Transformed ice breaks like safety glass. Stronger ice breaks along sharp clean cracks.

How thick is the ice? What is the ice composition or ice type? What is air temperature? What is ice temperature? Ice strength is based on ice composition, thickness and temperature.

Clear hard ice below frost is one end of the spectrum. Severely transformed, "gone to candles", saturated ice at or slightly above frost defines the other end of the spectrum. Clear hard ice below frost is strongest, saturated ice gone to candles is the weakest ice.

For obvious reasons, air temp and ice temp are crucial.

Experience with ice, time spent evaluating ice, makes it easier to gage conditions based on ice samples. Spend some time at http://lakeice.squarespace.com/  Learn to recognize and evaluate ice conditions by visual clues. Experience counts.

Do not presume ice conditions. Always check an area before you start to sail fast. We carry a small Fiskars hatchet. Spend some time skating carefully before you set up a wing. Most folks fall in because they did not bother to recognize changing conditions, they did not understand conditions, they ignored conditions. Be observant.

It is important to emphasize that you are responsible for the folks in your party. Always verify the ice conditions for yourself. The ice is never safe. There is always thin ice somewhere. Wear picks, a helmet and carry a throw line.