Worst day ever...i''m trying to forget, maybe this will help...

[Rockford35]

there was a windchill of -18?? isnt that kinda dangerous for someone to be in for like say, 30minutes, let alone 6.5 hours?

-18 is nothing.

I'm not trying to be a dink here, but after 4 weeks of -30 or worse (pre windchill), you get a bit climatized. -20 when the ambient temp is only -6 is not big deal. And if you're moving around, you're fine.

You gotta get into the -30 area before you'd consider it cold and dangerous. -40 is deadly, and actually killed people in the province that hit the ditch and tried to walk to safety. Game over.

R35

 

[MCDavis]

Glad everything worked out, my friend!!

 

[The master]

So glad everything worked out for you, my dog escaped a few years ago for about an hour, I ran non stop looking for it, looking everywhere, it means the world to me, and I would have been absolutely distraught if she had have went missing, thankfully I found her a couple of blocks away, it was one of the biggest reliefs ever, and I'm sure it was the same for you. I'm glad you stayed looking all day, it shows you care and look after your dog, and that you are a true dog lover.

 

[bames]

-18 is nothing.

I'm not trying to be a dink here, but after 4 weeks of -30 or worse (pre windchill), you get a bit climatized. -20 when the ambient temp is only -6 is not big deal. And if you're moving around, you're fine.

You gotta get into the -30 area before you'd consider it cold and dangerous. -40 is deadly, and actually killed people in the province that hit the ditch and tried to walk to safety. Game over.

R35

Amen brother. The will to survive is immeasurable and incredible. Glad it turned out for the best.

 

[Bravo]

What a story....I've been sick for the past three days and haven't been around....

You must be in superb condtion to trek through that depth of snow for that much distance and time.

I know this is a dumbass question but isn't the ice thick enough to bear the weight of a dog of that weight?

Why isn't it frozen solid?

 

[Rockford35]

What a story....I've been sick for the past three days and haven't been around....

You must be in superb condtion to trek through that depth of snow for that much distance and time.

I know this is a dumbass question but isn't the ice thick enough to bear the weight of a dog of that weight?

Why isn't it frozen solid?

I am a specimen, B, that's forsure.

The local aquifer surfaces in two places out there. One at one end of the quarry, the other at the meander of this creek. The turbulence of the moving water keeps the ice thin. But, it does ice over a tad and a little snow makes for good camoflage.

It's really just a freak thing that they happened to go into the bush right there.

Here's a map of the area. Obviously, this is late summer. Just west of "where I found Cooper" is another area that is often not frozen over, right in that little cove.

R35

 

[warbirdlover]

Many lakes with "springs" have thin ice over them since the constant water flow doesn't let it freeze thick (as R35 pointed out). Where rivers enter lakes is another area of thin ice due to moving water. And the wind can cause cracks too wide for a vehicle to get over. There is no body of water completely safe from areas of thin ice. Local people get to "know" these areas. Used to live by Big Green Lake (one of the deepest inland water lakes in the US). 300' deep in spots. Winter the ice can get 3 feet deep and pickups and cars commonly travel over it "except" in the area of springs. Every year some "strangers" to the lake go tooling around and drop their $40,000 trucks in water too deep to ever recover them. And the kicker is... insurance companies will not pay for vehicles driven on frozen lakes....

 

[Eracer]

Hell of a story, Rock. You had a lot of luck shining down on you that day. Luck that your girlfriend didn't have a tragic accident. Luck that -18 wind chill didn't kill you both (acclimatized my ass- that's deadly cold after six hours of exertion) and luck that you got your little friends back after they got dunked.

I like the electronic dog collar idea (of course, I like that idea for kids, too; which I have taken some heat for over the years...)

 

[sssmokin]

Warbirdlover said: I'd buy a couple electric dog collars for the next time you take them for a walk. Might save going through something like that again.

Yeah.........that would have been great. The dog is in the water fighting to get out, and you zap him with the electric dog collar. Good idea.

 

[LyleG]

Wow, that brought a tear to my god damn eyes. Glad it all worked out for you in the end. You should reward yourself with a new club of some kind.

 

[Rockford35]

Wow, that brought a tear to my god damn eyes. Glad it all worked out for you in the end. You should reward yourself with a new club of some kind.

Now we're talkin'.

Nah, I think reward enough is that it turned out fine in the end. I don't need to push my luck.

R35

 

[Bravo]

Thanks for all of the ice explanations. Even though I have spent quite a bit of time in winter climates skiing....I don't know anything about ice in freshwater areas....

I cannot imagine losing an entire vehicle...sheesh. The whole concept of driving on a lake is weird to me anyway.

 

[Rockford35]

Thanks for all of the ice explanations. Even though I have spent quite a bit of time in winter climates skiing....I don't know anything about ice in freshwater areas....

I cannot imagine losing an entire vehicle...sheesh. The whole concept of driving on a lake is weird to me anyway.

All the winter roads in the northern part of the province are over lakes. Big, full sized semis carrying mining equipment drive on them constantly. One at a time, 40km/hr tops. Any faster and the truck creates a shock wave that will smash the ice ahead of it. So, this is monitored very, very closely and the RCMP and mining companies actually have speed traps set up on them with closed circuit TV monitoring them.

R35

 

[LyleG]

I remember ice fishing one April on Wabigoon Lake in Dryden ON. We went out in the morning with the car (a 73 cutless supreme) and fished all day. Temp was right at freezing, sun was shining. The ice out where we were was still a little over 3 feet thick, you could drive a tank on it. However, once we got back to shore there was about 15 feet of open water. Luckily the drop off was very shallow, only about 2 feet where the ice and water met. We took about a 1/2 mile run at shore and just barely made it. The wall of water when we hit was crazy. An oil change later and all was well with the cutless.

 

[Rockford35]

I remember ice fishing one April on Wabigoon Lake in Dryden ON. We went out in the morning with the car (a 73 cutless supreme) and fished all day. Temp was right at freezing, sun was shining. The ice out where we were was still a little over 3 feet thick, you could drive a tank on it. However, once we got back to shore there was about 15 feet of open water. Luckily the drop off was very shallow, only about 2 feet where the ice and water met. We took about a 1/2 mile run at shore and just barely made it. The wall of water when we hit was crazy. An oil change later and all was well with the cutless.

That's not uncommon.

Ice roads are big business here. They're lifelines for the mines and northern communities. You can't put an 80 ton dumptruck in a plane.

Here's some pics...as you can see the north often spawns idiocy....

R35