Ice Rescue this Morning

[woodman]

I was just notified that my nephew who is on the Bemidji Fire Department and the Captian of the Ice Rescue Squad was called to Upper Red Lake @ 6:30 this morning for an ice rescue.

Anybody have any info on this?

I will update when I talk to him this afternoon.

I hope the roads were better then they were last night for the rescue squad to drive that far wth a trailer and the hovercraft.

Hope the people received help quick and they are AOK!

[kelly-p]

The fishermen that were lost in the whiteout were found about Noon.

[woodman]

Kelly-P: Thanks, I just got of the phone with my Nephew and he said the fisherman was happy to see them. He said that they had 12 snowmobiles lined up and were searching until they found them.

Glad to hear that all is AOK!

[Bob Horn]

I think a gps would have helped. I have been in white outs and I think the gps has helped me on many a day. It`s a few hundred dollar life insurance policy , sound cheap to me. At least this has a happy ending.

[dockehr]

It may be "preaching to the choir", but if your're relying on a gps unit to get you back to shore thru fog or a snow whiteout, be sure to enter your your shore-based entry point BEFORE heading out on the ice or water. Last year a certain former president of a certain well-known fishing tackle company based out of Brainerd headed up to Lake Winnibegosish with a friend. I was invited but turned down the invitation owing to the fact that whiteout conditions were predicted for the lake. They later lured me up there with assurances that there was no whiteout and and that they were catching walleyes and perch. Two hours later I arrived to-you guessed it-a whiteout. I had the waypoint of their fishhouse in my gps unit as well as the waypoint of my access to the lake. I headed out across four miles plus of whiteout and found them with no problem. After several hours of less than exciting fishing and and a further deterioration in the weather we headed back to shore in our respective cars. The visibility was about 100 feet and I just followed my "track" on my gps unit back to the access. I noticed that my friend's car was angling away from mine, but as he had a gps unit, I assumed he was following his gps "track" back to the access. I arrived at the access first and waited, and waited, and waited. After 15 minutes I called him on his cell phone. Yes, he had a gps. Yes, he had the waypoint of his fishhouse. No, he had not entered the waypoint of the access! I gave him the co-ordinates to enter into his unit and 5 minutes later he was at the access. I should add he had an older unit that did not have any background map. End of story. No it isn't, for I went out the next day and bought him a unit with a built-in backgound map. I figured he might be too stubborn to get one himself. Absolutely true story. So, record those access waypoints! Merry Christmas and safe fishing to all.

Dr. Roland Kehr

[JustEnoughToEat]

If you know the weather is going to be bad for sure we always carry a compass just for back up in case the GPS dosen't work. Let me tell you its saved my butt in the woods many times.

[CornPirateKiller]

The story made the papers...

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5136092.html

[Ron Vroom]

Last year I was in a whiteout situation on LOW with a couple of guys using a handheld GPS. I set our starting waypoint but we did not have the co-ordinates of my friend's permanent fish house about 1 1/2 miles out. Very quickly we lost visibility of the shoreline as we proceeded on 3 snowcats. The fishhouse owner was leading the way on what he felt was the correct course and we almost gave up until we found another shack he recognised amd from there we found our way. But the episode impressed upon me the difficulty in using a handheld GPS in below zero blizzard conditions trying to navigate on a snowcat. It was extemely difficult to view the handheld as we traveled and the LCD display was extemely difficult to see with the batteries draining quickly. After that event I now alway use lithium batteries in the unit which are better performing in exteme cold. The other advise is to have a separate compass on the snowcat so you can steer the course assuming you have that information.

Ninety percent of the time I am in my pickup, so the conditions are much more comfortable, but yes, I start my GPS at the shoreline and leave it on so I have a complete track for the trip, but even with that there is a separate compass in the pickup and on me with a reciprocal course written down in my bibs.