any of you fellas here of it?
A track machine went through the ice.
I think somewhere near Kotzebue?

There was one in southcentral that went through by skweetna

What kind of machine went under do you know?

It was my neighbor. He was prone to these things.

Like a lack of common sense thing or just to bold?

What kind of machine was it Dirt?

Not sure. Not even sure if it was the snow cat thing or the excavator he had buried out in the swamp last year in December after getting lost on my trapline in the dark during a blizzard.

This was supposedly an amphibious machine.
Just wondering how n why it sank.
Thought some of you fellas would know.

When did this happen?

Happened a few days ago as I recall. The article I read called it a "snow cat" ....... whatever that might be


https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/mat...alls-through-ice-in-mat-su-troopers-say/


https://dailydispatch.dps.alaska.gov/Home/DisplayIncident?incidentNumber=AK21012608

Thanks Ken for the link.

Yep, I believe that's it.
My best friend worked with him for 20 years.

I don't know any details about this incident but the Army manages to sink SUSV's during the winter up here and they are amphibious. But they don't float when you leave the drain plugs out....

Snow cat.

I heard the guy was solid, not a fool.
He was out with at least one other rig around 7:30 pm crossing the lake when the ice gave way and he went down in 25 ft of water. He managed to get out of the machine but that was all they found him on the bottom near the cat. His buddies came out with an ice auger and there was 3 feet of ice except for where he went in was only a few inches. Just a small patch of bad ice. Methane pocket, spring or something. Apparently nobody knew there was a bad spot on that lake.
I got this info 2nd hand but from a very reliable source.

I knew the guy. My wife worked for the guy. I worked with the guy. I'm glad you heard (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman).

P.S. do you want to hear story about when is hovercraft burned up?

No but from what you seem to be implying why would anybody want to work for somebody like that

Like I said I got the information second hand but from a trusted source. I'm sure you would know where that thin spot was too from the sounds it.

Yes! My wife is fool. Too late to trade her in now.

Well I changed my post because I don't want to call anybody a fool. There are people shook up by that guys demise. That is all I know for sure.

Let's say, he thought he knew more than the rest of us. Liked the guy, friend of mine, however, apparently not.




Did I tell you the story about when he went to rescue those two guys buried in over flow up in front of Fenwick's place?

Sad situation regardless. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy...........well...............wait.


There is a D8 in the river here just off the south end of the runway. Fortunately no one was hurt.

No matter how careful you are, there is always the possibility of a bad spot. or as Drasselt mentions, a methane bubble.

I was walking a cat to my homestead one year and had to cross a lake that's about a mile wide. I spent one whole day with an augur checking ice thickness every 50-60 yards, all the way across The least was about three feet. But this was a D7 with a sled behind, loaded with 8000 pounds of plywood and fuel.

Even though I was fairly confident about the ice, you just never know. I Got the rig moving and into 3rd gear with just enough throttle to maintain movement..............then I jumped off and rode the snowmachine across the lake.

When the cat reached the other side it just bumped into the bank and killed the engine. BUT...........as it passed those holes in the ice, water shot five feet into the air just from the weight of the machine. I was pleased with my decision to not ride that thing across.

My guess is he found one of these, recently frozen, and covered with snow. Plenty of these on that lake.

Spearing shack hole?

Looks like a spring hole.

Scares me to death.

We call them spider holes. Most all the ponds and lakes here have them. Lot of them on Hewitt.

No Worries,You could skip right across that with the bravo Dirt.

Yep Boco, especially if he had it on backwards so it levitated

Yeah that one seemed squared-off for a spider hole and with all the bird tracks figured there may be fish guts or bait or something to be had. Also looks like some kind of sled tracks on the right.

I'm sure I've crossed hundreds of these frozen. Some wet. Even non- levitaters can do it. That's why everybody owns and operates snowmachines out here and not snow cats. Lots of travel on water.

The Ice roads avoid the lakes and ponds.

Wow White.
I've spent 100's of hours on northern MN lakes in the winter.
Can't say I've ever seen anything like that unless getting close to a creek/river inlet_outlet.
Just spent all day with my friend that was close to the fella that died.
He's surly bummed but after working in Alaska for 28 years, he knows how fast things can turn south (on anybody).
Thanks for the input guys

That's a rough deal.

Good story, Ken. Glad you didn't have to mount up while it was in motion. I heard a similar one about a guy that sent his D8 across a river. Seems a bit sketchy to climb back on.

Good thing it tracked straight!
Although it is funny to picture you herding one in circle, looping across a lake...

Yeah LOL It did occur to me that it might wander but I think the load behind helped keep it pointed straight.

We had an old timer here several years ago who owned a D4. He was alone out at his mine and tried to jump on from behind .......Not an uncommon practice to 'ride the track up' from the back..............But his pants cuff caught in the track and took him right over the front and under the track. Sad deal

Yeah that looks like a methane pocket. I know where there is one like this about half a mile from my cabin. Pretty scary stuff. I busted through it one time when I got too close to it trying to set a conibear over it because the otters were using it to get in and out of the lake. But if you didn't know where it was at, it would be really easy to ride your machine right on top of it. Sometimes when it gets really cold (like 30-40 below) a light crust will temporarily cover it completely and snow will fall on top of it and cover it. You would never know where it was at unless you ran over it and fell in

That is my worst nightmare, going under the ice and not coming back up. Running rivers and creeks for the first ride of the year, or towards the end, you always pucker. I don't know how many times I have stopped on a creek with the machine half way on the bank and then stepped to the creek side and went up to my crotch through the ice. Not a way to go. Sorry for his family.

-TJ

Bucksnbears I was over past the hole last night having dinner at my sons. I have more information first/ second/ and third hand and speculation if you want it for your buddy who worked with Scott.

Sure Dirt.
What do you have?

Well you stated earlier that what he was driving was amphibious and he owned a hagglund until at least last winter because he buried that in our seven foot sugar snow last year as soon as he left the trail on my end of the big swamp. My fellow dinner guest witnessed this last year. That thing was not very good in the snow; tracks were not that wide and trenched a snomachine trail pretty good. Probably depended on load.

According to my son the tracks leading straight into the hole were too wide for the hagglund, unless he had changed to wider tracks. Still unknown if the hagglund went down or something new.

Apparently Scott was guiding a new property owner who had a cabin on Hewitt lake and just bought a snow cat with some decent track width. It is still unclear what the plan was. Both Scott's place on Whiskey lake and the new guys are accessible by avoiding driving snow cats on lakes. It appears the new guy has now broke an overland backdoor trail to his property with his snow cat. I saw a snow cat trail headed that way and no fresh ones on the lake.

So Hewitt lake is long and skinny probably 3 miles by 1/2 mile. The first part you get on is the worst for thin ice. This is the outlet side and you get on at the extreme left side and at times are only feet from open water on your right. Not deep though. He made it across this following the snow machine trail and for some reason got off the trail to the right and made it about 300 yards to the thin spot.

It is unclear what his plan was. He wasn't crossing the lake, he was traveling down the lake. Maybe he was going to lead this guy down and across to his place, or heading to his place on Whiskey. If he was heading to Whiskey he didn't make it too far. Still had about a mile and a half of Hewitt to travel then overland to another half mile of Whiskey to cross.
Both backdoor routes to Scott's and other guy's, that avoid the lakes, are shorter and safer, but require time to make and break them the first time.

It wasn't dark when this went down. Apparently, it took awhile for the vehicle to sink. People were there before it sank. Don't know why nobody tried to pull Scott out. Probably a little spooky. It is unclear why Scott didn't bail. Speculation is he was knocked out. He got out sometime under water. They found his body outside the vehicle.

Scott was surely aware of the preponderance of spider holes on that lake. He traveled it far more times than I have, especially the couple of years he lived at Whiskey.

Thanks Dirt.
What i was told originally was he was driving a hagglund.
I was wondering how it could have gone down.