Hole in the ice

We had a bit of fun today. Because next week is the bear ski where we will all be skiing solo in Lapland for 10 days facing hazardus situations on our own. In the morning we had a little chat about the hazards of being out on the ice of frozen lakes and rivers during spring, reasons for being on the ice and then went over techniques for crossing the ice. After we moved to the workshop to make a set of ice picks that we got to test in the afternoon.

Nothing fancy, but they do the job. Just chopped up a broom handle drilled holes in the ends and screwed a bolt in each one then chopped off the heads and sharpened them. Two more holes to attach the rope and there you are.

Having made our ice picks we wanted to test them out. Unfortunately even though it has been very warm for this time of year the ice on the lake was too strong for us to fall through and get a true experience of going through the ice so we had to cut a hole.

After drilling a load of holes, sawing the gaps in between and pulling out the ice blocks it was time for a swim.

Even though I had a rope tied to me and Mikko has his dry suit on in case he had to jump in after me, I tried to keep it as real a situation as possible. Like our discussion in the morning, before attempting to cross the lake I had decided that I had no other choice. I had gathered fire making materials and placed them by the shore, so that if I did fall in and could get out I would be able to quickly get a fire going and start to get warm and dry off providing my fire making kit in my pocket didn't get wet.

Don't let the sunshine fool you. That water was cold!! I stayed in for a while, long enough to control my breathing and for the water to properly soak my clothes and fill my rubber boots before getting out and going to light my fire. I got the fire going pretty quickly the first few matches did get wet. Not from the swim, but from me dripping water everywhere. I stripped off to squeeze most of the water out of my clothes and warmed up. Not a true test as if I was in the wilderness alone, hopefully that doesn't happen, but a fun practise anyhow.

Laters