This is embarrassing but I thought I would share. It may help to remind the forgetful types like myself to make sure you have all of the gear even if you doubt you'll need it. I was about 25 miles from home checking sets the ice started to have a little overflow here and there slowly getting worse the farther upstream I went. I was running in 6 inches of water with about an inch of ice on top. Tough to steer in and I gradually drifted out on this corner. I was not moving very fast and as soon I it got deep I did not have time to pin it before the clutch was wet. I sunk. I jumped up on the seat wondering how I was going to get out of this mess and if I had fire starter in my pockets somewhere. I quickly pulled my back pack off the back and tossed it in the sled. Great feature of the Cross fox sled it floats and is a place to put all of your clothes when you strip down to get in the water. Took every thing off except for my hat unhooked the sled and got in the water breaking a trail to shore. Once there got dressed and set about building a fire and setting aside a pile of wood. Then I stripped back down and waded out to pull the machine to the bank. This picture was taken after the first session of pulling. Didn't get to far before I had to get back to the fire to regain the feeling in my feet and hands. The second try got closer but then out of the deep water the full weight of the machine was realized and it was difficult to get a purchase on the bottom with numb feet and no traction. An extra pair of socks to use here would have been nice. I did get close enough to use a short piece of rope I had to tie to a ski and then climb back out to the fire. Once warmed up and fully clothed I waded back out and put a truckers cinch in the line between an alder and the sled to cinch it up as tight as possible then pull a little bit at a time, retie and repeat until I could get close enough to grab a ski. At this point I drug it into 10 inches of water pulled the plugs and spent the next hour or so cranking out the water drying the plugs adding a little fuel until it began to run again. I got into this mess because I stopped giving overflow the respect it deserves and became over confident. I learned a lesson and was lucky to get out of it with a few cuts in my feet and legs and a little swelling from frostbite in the toes on one foot.
And yes another cat in the ice that is his ear sticking out. Should have listened to Otterman and had a spud along.

Holy cow! Glad you made it home.

X2

wow, that's crazy, I need to learn a trucker hitch...I'm glad you are ok, that could have been bad...

wow.... That is insane...

Nice work prioritizing and keeping your cool to get to shore and stay warm. Great composure in getting the machine out, staying warm, alive and self rescuing.

That is where the bunny boots work, (i don;t own a pair, but should)......

That is also where it pays to have quality gear, that isulates when warm, dries quickly and performs as you expect it to.

Glad to see everything worked out. only thing I would have done, was NOT document that ice cube, errr, lynx.

Man! Glad to hear your OK! X2 what Hup said. On the bright side I bet you were very warm by the time you got that kitty out!

Holy Cow Nooksack! I'm impressed with your cool in the situation too. Great recovery. I'm so glad we are hearing the story from you - if you catch my drift.

I'll learn from your experience and remember - again - that I want to avoid overflow at all costs.

Glad you made it home safe and (almost) sound. I'll be interested to hear how the toes do.

Great job keeping a cool head Nooksack. Definitely a good reminder to the dangers of overflow. Glad you made it out ok.

Gees Nooksack glad you made it out of that one ok and a good reminder to all of us to make sure we have what we need along every trip. I am guilty of doing the same too often and it isn't like an extra set of clothes puts a lot of weight or takes up a lot of room in the sled

Nooksak, WOW! Glad you're alright, way to get out of there and get your machine back up running again.



Here's one for ya, oops I drank it Glad you're good and got a kitty


Nick

Thanks for posting this Nooksak. There will be those that will benefit from your account. The things we have to go through to teach a lesson sometimes.
Real glad it all turned out well in the end. It will be one of those memories that will stick with you.
Just thinking. A couple of big black trash bags in this situation would make for temporary hip boots to get a guy back to the bank.
I have used them before but not on ice. Save having to strip down and probably keep a guy dry for a short spurt to the bank.
Your having to work for those kitties this year.

Glad you are out safe! I HATE overflow.

-TJ

Glad you made it out okay! Overflow is nasty stuff! I am glad I am not a water traveller! At least not too much! Thanks for sharing that!

Thanks for posting your experience Nooksack. That is a good reminder that we are responsible for getting out of the messes that we get into..

That is exactly the reason why I love bunny boots like Hup said. I ran into the exact same situation a couple winters ago at about -20. Luckily for me, I happened to have a comealong and about 30 feet of rope, not enough rope to reach an anchor on shore so I chopped a hole in the hard ice and put a stout alder in the hole at an almost horizontal angle and sat on it above where the comealong attached. It gave me enough of an anchor to inch the snomachine to the shelf ice with a million stops to retie the rope shorter. The lesson I learned (hopfully) was to bring a Ropealong and 100' of amsteel type rope. Takes a bit of room on the machine (I dont generally tow a sled) but since 90% of my line is over water of some sort, it is worth it..

NS:
Very impressive the way you kept your head and didn't panic. Problably the most important item. I always dislike the room a ropalong and other gear takes up but not a problem when you need it. Depending on how you break through there is also the possibility everything in the snowmobile may be inaccessible. It has always amazed me how a warm running engine can be immersed in cold water and start up. After you pull the plug or plugs and cycle out the water what did you use to put gas back in the plug hole?

Thats a good point Ubob. I oughta put a spare chunk of fuel hose in my kit for repairs or to get fuel into the plug holes...

Get one of those jiggle syphons at AIH....

They are the way to go...

Might just be a good time to review some of our safety items we carry and post here for others to glean.
I keep a lighter in pocket for the times I might not be able to get to a pack on the machine. But I don't go anywhere without my propane elec torch in my pack. I use it for a lot of things but it is the best at making fires fast.

Some other uses include. de-icing my tools, icepicks, traps, undercarriage etc. I have heated nails up red hot when I needed needed to make holes for windshield repairs. Cooked soup. Worth investing in a good one.

Cooked canned clams

Too warm for a fire in the tent.


Sat phone
VHV in Delta anyways. Most homes have on. Planes use them.
Electric Tape
Tie wire
A few extra nuts and bolts of various lengths and sizes.

That comment about nuts and bolts is spot on! In combination with an inexpensive socket set and a cresent wrench you can get yourself out of a lot of jams! We keep one of those torch heads at camp, really nice for getting the wood stove fired up.

Tools are a given for sure.
I find a set of sockets, open end wrenches and two screwdrivers, pliers, and a visegrip is the usual.