Don't skate on thin ice

[TahoeJeff]

The only way to assess ice safety with any certainty is to sample the entire area you intend to travel, by drilling core samples or utilizing a passive technology (e.g. laser or acoustic measuring sensors).

You appear to be overthinking the process.

He is.
Ed, search up some of my ice fishing reports here on HST.
If it has been cold and it's snowed, most back country lakes will be perfectly safe to travel over.

[fishwrong]

Sad story and good reminder that stuff can go wrong very quickly. Think things through and try and figure out the things you don't know as fast as you can. It's been my experience, that folks talk a lot about ice safety and criteria, but I honestly think a lot of it is BS, someone heard from a buddy. I've lived in the foothills and mountains my entire life and have zero business going out onto ice covered lakes based on my own experience which is very limited. That's certainly not the case with everyone, but I'd bet it's as common as not.

Not being an expert at something doesn't mean your dumb. It's just ignorant, which is correctable through learning from books, training and experience. Thinking you're an expert at things you're not means you're dumb. And that condition doesn't always come with a fix.

Hope everyone gets to enjoy the outdoors and does so safely.

[Gogd]

You appear to be overthinking the process.

No, I am only presenting information, and providing my opinion.

We all have a comfort zone we seek. The risk/reward of crossing wilderness ice in the Sierra is outside my comfort zone, knowing what I know about frozen lake ice. Can one go an entire lifetime skating and crossing frozen Sierra lake ice? Certainly, John, yourself and many others are proof of that. But obituaries are the proof there is a risk inherent in this activity. I reckon none of the people in the obits thought they were not going to make it to the other side.

It's not like I am a control freak, I'll kick steps up steep snow fields to passes, with no axe or spikes. These inclines are steep enough to surely kill anyone who loses their footing and toboggans to the the rocks below, yet I feel comfortable with the odds I will not fall or the stance fail under foot. Some will say you and I are nuts gambling our lives on these activates. Frankly, I concur.

Well I have said my spiel, and you are good with what you know. Thanks for sharing that skating video, it was lovely! Sorry if I seemed obtuse, I have lost a couple friends who knowingly played the odds engaging in risky activities, and I am ok with that. It is the folks who get in over their heads, unaware of what they are up against that compels me to post these comments.

Ed

[rlown]

Your comments are welcome here. Everyone has a process. Sometimes I sit there and think for about 20 minutes and make a decision; Winter or not.
Not big on glorifying obits though. They are choices.