I grew up ice fishing in the Midwest, so I know a few things about when the ice is safe to walk on. But driving a vehicle onto the ice, while possible and I've seen and done it before, is a more precarious thing than just walking across it to get to your tip-ups or shanty. It's something you need to learn how to do safely, and that all comes down to ice thickness.
Recently, a group of six snowmobilers messed around and found out that the ice on Lake Vermillion in Northern Minnesota wasn't thick enough to support their snowmobile's weight, plunging into the icy depths, and having to be rescued before the worst could happen. Of the six, two were children, according to local reports.
But the whole thing got me thinking about how I once learned about ice depths and weight back in the day, and figured this event was a good-enough time to remind everyone else about the dos and don'ts of traversing the ice using vehicles. So let's get into it.
