The Christmas tree is to tell divers where to look for the car. The driver survived by walking about a mile on the ice to an island which was inhabited at the time. He broke through at a pressure ridge.Every year the America Alpine Club publishes Accidents In North American Mountaineering. It is a good view of the ground truth about how things go wrong in the hills. The accounts presented here have the same purpose. They are a mix of accidents and near misses that have lessons for us. Please keep in mind that all of this is written with the benefit of hindsight. The following accounts are anonymous unless they are extensively covered elsewhere or the people involved are OK with a less anonymous description. The following are links to a few accounts.
Reading about other people's misfortune leads some people to over estimate the risk they face on the ice. Please remember that while there are fatalities on frozen lakes, ponds and rivers every year, the likelyhood of you being one of those people is very small, especially if you take reasonable precautions.
The following are a several accident accounts. The first five had follow up investigations.
- Lake Dunmore Tragedy
- Tragedy on Nubansuit Lake, January 2011
- 2012 Truck Breakthrough on Waterbury Reservoir
- Ice at Night
- 2012 Season Incidents in NW Vermont
- Lake and river ice fatalities in North America during the 2013 ice season.
- Similar fatality reports for 2014 to 2019
- The harrowing account of snowmobiler Al Morancy (click here). He was riding at night, with his family, on Umbagog Lake in Northern New Hampshire/Maine. They become lost in a white out and Al ended finding thin ice and breaking through. He offers some excellent perspective and advice (ice picks, throw rope, GPS, riding on ice and riding at night, etc)
- Saved by his socks near Errol New Hampshire Reported September 2011
- Links to media articles about ice in general and incidents and accidents.
- Summary of annual fatality reports.
If you have a story to tell that you think will help the rest of us stay out of trouble or if you were involved on one of the events described here and you don't think we have the details correct please get in touch.
Bob
