You Just Fell through Thin Ice!… Now What Do You Do?
Adam Scepaniak 11.26.18
As we get further into the cold winter months around the US a very real danger for outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen is falling through thin ice. Whether it is on a river which never fully freezes or a stable base has not frozen over on a lake, the potential to fall through thin ice and drown or experience hypothermia is very real. When you are in the outdoors alone that danger can be more alarming because how do you save yourself?!
One YouTube video that has resurfaced on social media recently provides a short, concise, and phenomenal tutorial on how to perform a self-rescue if you fall through thin ice. The advice that YouTube account ReWildUniversity provides is as follows:
OK, this is the cold shock response… which really can be mitigated if you just relax and realize that it is going to pass and that after it passes you’ll be able to do the second part of your self-rescue.
So I spread my arms out so that I didn’t get fully emerged and that gasp response didn’t make me inhale water. So I’ve survived my cold shock response.
Now to get out instead of trying to pull myself straight up I’m gonna start to kick my feet and raise them up behind me and then kick.
Now I’m on flat ice and I don’t wanna stand up now. I’m gonna ease myself forward until I feel like I am on stronger ice. Test it… and start to move towards shore.
What do you guys and gals think? If you personally fell through the ice, do you think you could remain calm and execute this plan? Or do you think the cold response shock would sink your odds? Let us know what you think in the Comments below! We always appreciate feedback. Also, if you would like to watch the ReWildUniversity video in its entirety you can view it below.
