Because of the high amount of traffic I am receiving from my first last post about Ice Thickness, I thought I would write another one with more information that would apply to people out side of Yellowknife.
Here is a Ice Thickness Chart that show how thick the ice has to be to be able to support you, a snowmobile, car, truck etc.
I also wanted to explain how to properly measure the ice you are on.
What you need: Ice auger(an axe could work, I have done it, but it makes a mess), L shaped stick (can be anything), measuring tape, and a shovel.
How to Do it:
- Shovel away all the snow in the area where you want to drill your hole in the ice
- Prep your Ice Auger, make sure blade is sharp. Start it up if it is a gas auger.
- Start drilling by slowly drilling your hole so that the auger goes down in one spot and continue down.
- While your drilling it is a good idea to pull up the Auger once and a while to get the ice shavings out of the hole. Use the shovel to remove them once they are up.
- Once you have gone throw bring your auger back up and make sure you don’t put it in the snow so it does not have clumps of snow and ice on it when you want to put it away. (Not something you have to do, just something I do)
- Clear all the slush and ice chips out of the area with the shovel and try to get as much as possible out of the hole.
- With your “L” shaped stick put the vertical end ( — part) into the ice and then pull the stick back upwards you that the vertical part of the stick is underneath the ice at the very bottom of it.
- Then mark on the sticks horizontal part (|) where the ice (top) begins.
- Once you have pull the stick our again, with the measuring tape measure from where you mark the ice began to the bottom part.
You will now have a general idea of the thickness of the ice in that area. But remember Ice Thickness can change very quickly and can be different thickness’s only a foot away from where you measure. Many things contribute to how thick the ice can be, such as the depth of the water, if the ice is exposed to the air and/or sun, as well as how much snow is on top of the ice. Think of the snow as a blanket. When snow if on ice it insulating it, preventing it from becoming thicker and stronger.
Read up more on ice here
Remember to always be safe and cautious. And have Fun.
