Driving on Ice According to Adrian’s

Maybe most of you had seen this already but someone with 40 yeas experience maintaining the most popular road on LOTW weighed in about speed when driving on ice. Based on my observations I think he’s pretty spot on. The fact is, 25” of ice can safely support nearly 40 tons of weight. 5-6 tons of vehicle weight isn’t going to have any impact on that ice at all no matter how fast you drive. I think the only thing he failed to cover is that driving fast on thin ice does indeed cause problems.

https://m.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid036r5ReSt6xA8YWf85csBvREXaGN2G7UeNss8nxNjM1LwWfYEfnMERrYYYc1uiXjNpl&id=100064749638743

I’m unable to copy and paste the text here otherwise I would.

The point here isn’t that it’s ok to drive fast on the ice. It’s more about the factors that actually cause cracks and dangerous situations on ice roads isn’t linked to speed. It’s about natural factors that people should be aware of. If anything you should still drive slow and keep close eye out for hazards like wet cracks.

I read that as well and I tend to agree with him. That’s a massive sheet of ice growing and shrinking with temperature swings and his explanation of why it cracks on a road makes a lot of sense. If anything, that whole situation showed that you can’t trust any ice.

i read that yesterday and is interesting. i can only imagine how fast people are going to be driving on it now. it was bad enough the last couple years trying to pull your shack out and take it easy in the rough bumps and people flying by you all pissed off

Agreed. Here’s the post for non-fb’ers:
Hello everybody. This is Brian from Adrian’s resort. I do not normally post on social media but I feel like I must tell what I know and what I believe. I have been checking the ice and making safety decisions for 40 plus years. I am going to start with addressing speed on the ice and the wave. 30 plus years ago I took a 2 mile stretch of ice and extensively tested it. There was 12″ of ice and I started going back-and-forth at 30 mile per hour and worked my way up to 70 miles per hour. I finally gave up as I could not make the wave crack the trail. I have also studied the amount the ice goes up-and-down as different size traffic goes by. I am sure all of the ice experts out there have done these same things so this may be a little boring for you. I am not saying there is not a wave. I am merely saying that the size and weight of the vehicles we are driving do not make a wave big enough to significantly affect the ice. Bottom line is we are not ice road truckers driving loads that weigh 60000 to 120000 pounds. Now we will talk about cold fronts and cracks on a road. Ice expands when it warms up and it shrinks when it cools down. That being said when the ice warms up the ice molecules expand in a chain reaction and cause pressure ridges. When the ice Cools Down the molecules shrink and cause cracks. When I was young I Wondered why On a cold front one trail would crack while other parallel trails would not. Then I figured out that when the ice is brittle and the molecules were ready to shrink the trail that was driven on 1st was the one that cracked and most of the time let the other trails be OK. On a cold front I started going out at 4:30 to 5 o’clock AM and driving out and back way off to the side of the trail causing the crack to form off of the trail. This worked great for many years. Then lake of the woods started renting sleeper fish houses and personal wheel houses started to come into play. I started to see when I went out early in the morning that there was already traffic out on the road. Now there is people driving on the roads at all times of the night. So the road that cracks is the one with people driving on it at the point when The ice is ready to shrink. When this happens people like to say it is from driving too fast. This is not true. It is mother nature. If any other plowed road say it has never happened on their road they are either lying or they have not been in business very long. I have seen a lot of bad situations out there over the years and driven across ice that no vehicle should be able to make it across And I made it. I sure did not make it by driving slow. I have always said in a bad situation on the ice that speed is your friend and I am sticking to that. I am not telling you to drive excessively fast on the ice. Driving too fast on the ice can be dangerous. You could lose control and cause an accident or you may not see hazards such as curves or ice ridges in time to react. Please be respectful to other traffic on the road. My best advice is to always pay attention to the ice in front of you. It does not matter if you have already driven there or if hundreds of people have driven there. If you find Yourself in a bad situation with floating slabs do not slow down and go down. Speed up and get yourself out of that situation. I hope you are never in this situation but if you are I hope this advice will help. I know it will not hurt you. As for the truck that unfortunately went down on Sunday. It was 7.4 miles North of Pine Island. There is 25″ of ice where the truck went down. I was out there and looked at the truck and made the decision to have the workers continue to plow a new road for the safety of everybody out on the ice. I did not think the truck would end up going down with 25″ of ice. . I was wrong. If I had this decision to make again. I would make the same decision. As for the post about Adrian’s telling them not to post it on social media. This is not true. I do not doubt that some resort or business told them that but it was not Adrian’s Resort or their workers. Good luck fishing and always be careful on the ice.

I so love to hear everyone Bioch about how speed is ruining the ice roads and how a resorter is going to take your pass away…
I have said what Brian wrote for a long time, it is basic material properties and physics. Sadly nothing will change as sheep are just that.

Source for the 40 ton claim on 25” of ice.

https://rivergages.mvr.usace.army.mil/WaterControl/Districts/MVP/reports/ice/safety.html

The chart says 26” for the record.

BigWerm wrote:

Agreed. Here’s the post for non-fb’ers:
Hello everybody. This is Brian from Adrian’s resort. I do not normally post on social media but I feel like I must tell what I know and what I believe. I have been checking the ice and making safety decisions for 40 plus years. I am going to start with addressing speed on the ice and the wave. 30 plus years ago I took a 2 mile stretch of ice and extensively tested it. There was 12″ of ice and I started going back-and-forth at 30 mile per hour and worked my way up to 70 miles per hour. I finally gave up as I could not make the wave crack the trail. I have also studied the amount the ice goes up-and-down as different size traffic goes by. I am sure all of the ice experts out there have done these same things so this may be a little boring for you. I am not saying there is not a wave. I am merely saying that the size and weight of the vehicles we are driving do not make a wave big enough to significantly affect the ice. Bottom line is we are not ice road truckers driving loads that weigh 60000 to 120000 pounds. Now we will talk about cold fronts and cracks on a road. Ice expands when it warms up and it shrinks when it cools down. That being said when the ice warms up the ice molecules expand in a chain reaction and cause pressure ridges. When the ice Cools Down the molecules shrink and cause cracks. When I was young I Wondered why On a cold front one trail would crack while other parallel trails would not. Then I figured out that when the ice is brittle and the molecules were ready to shrink the trail that was driven on 1st was the one that cracked and most of the time let the other trails be OK. On a cold front I started going out at 4:30 to 5 o’clock AM and driving out and back way off to the side of the trail causing the crack to form off of the trail. This worked great for many years. Then lake of the woods started renting sleeper fish houses and personal wheel houses started to come into play. I started to see when I went out early in the morning that there was already traffic out on the road. Now there is people driving on the roads at all times of the night. So the road that cracks is the one with people driving on it at the point when The ice is ready to shrink. When this happens people like to say it is from driving too fast. This is not true. It is mother nature. If any other plowed road say it has never happened on their road they are either lying or they have not been in business very long. I have seen a lot of bad situations out there over the years and driven across ice that no vehicle should be able to make it across And I made it. I sure did not make it by driving slow. I have always said in a bad situation on the ice that speed is your friend and I am sticking to that. I am not telling you to drive excessively fast on the ice. Driving too fast on the ice can be dangerous. You could lose control and cause an accident or you may not see hazards such as curves or ice ridges in time to react. Please be respectful to other traffic on the road. My best advice is to always pay attention to the ice in front of you. It does not matter if you have already driven there or if hundreds of people have driven there. If you find Yourself in a bad situation with floating slabs do not slow down and go down. Speed up and get yourself out of that situation. I hope you are never in this situation but if you are I hope this advice will help. I know it will not hurt you. As for the truck that unfortunately went down on Sunday. It was 7.4 miles North of Pine Island. There is 25″ of ice where the truck went down. I was out there and looked at the truck and made the decision to have the workers continue to plow a new road for the safety of everybody out on the ice. I did not think the truck would end up going down with 25″ of ice. . I was wrong. If I had this decision to make again. I would make the same decision. As for the post about Adrian’s telling them not to post it on social media. This is not true. I do not doubt that some resort or business told them that but it was not Adrian’s Resort or their workers. Good luck fishing and always be careful on the ice.

Congrats Werm you got the longest post of the year. There were some worthy contestants like how to stay safe while hunting in knee pads. You sir took the crown even when it was a copy and paste.
FYI… I didn’t read any of it. Well it’s Friday maybe by Monday I will get through it.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Congrats Werm you got the longest post of the year. There were some worthy contestants like how to stay safe while hunting in knee pads. You sir took the crown even when it was a copy and paste.
FYI… I didn’t read any of it. Well it’s Friday maybe by Monday I will get through it.

thats something you read at work

Long story short, dont drink and drive, you might wreck and spill your drink regardless of the road you are on.

( from the movie airplane )
I say let em crash!!

Ya, okay, its friday night, carry on.

So a truck went through on the road with 25 inches of ice??? That is freaky.

The first time I fished hard water on LOTW was at Adrian’s maybe 15 years ago.
We checked in and Brian checked us in, he gave me a map and said it’s pretty much self explanatory. Being a Mille Lacs guy and knowing the ice speed limit, I asked what the speed limit was out on the lake and he gave me a strange look and to my surprise said there isn’t one.

Border view must not agree with Adrian’s speed they just posted this

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