Post by nooksack on Jan 26, 2011 10:39:39 GMT -5
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. Water was just below the top of the seat.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.
