This saturday I decided with the nice weather forecast that I might go into Lake Skinner and have a relaxing evening camping near the lake and have a nice early start on Mt Snowy and possibly Nevada Peak.
My brother was working and Fizzygood was busy elsewhere so I decided to go it alone, something I do quite often.
So I had a nice quiet afternoon on saturday reading and sipping wine next to lake Skinner got a good nights rest and headed of for Mt Snowy at 0700 on sunday.
Made it to the summit of Snowy not long after 0800 and on the way up I could see a beautiful tarn surrounded by snow that I decided to detour to on the way back...
- Obligatory SS - Mt Snowy
- snowy_summit.JPG (61.26 KiB) Viewed 10019 times
It was a slight detour if I was going to make it to Nevada and back but by the time I was heading back down it was still only 0830 so I made a beeline straight for the tarn. It was a worthwile gem to visit and I became captivated by the thick crust of ice covering part of it.
After taking my share of photos I decided to test the ice and see how strong it was.
After trying my hardest to break through the ice I decided it might be safe to walk on. The tarn looked shallow so I though it couldn't come to any harm! I set my cameras timer to take a snap and with 10 seconds to go I raced out to the edge of the ice to pose...
- The idiot shot!
- tarnandme.JPG (45.98 KiB) Viewed 10019 times
Right after the picture was taken the ice gave way and I was plunged neck deep into the tarn through the ice.
With the shock of the cold water and the sudden realisation that I couldn't touch the bottom I nearly panicked!
- The dreaded hole!
- hole.JPG (49.68 KiB) Viewed 10019 times
I managed to haul myself out of the ice hole, a process that took several minutes in the water up to my armpits trying to hook my hands into the hard crusted ice! By the time I managed to pul myself onto my stomach the ice was threatening to dump me in again! I had to roll myself back to land as the ice was giving way when I tried to push up. I was dangerously cold by the time I managed to stand back up but soon warmed up. I was thankfull that I was wearing thermal bottoms and top, they dried within half an hour and I was warm in my down jacket even though it was a little flat! I was a bit shaken by the experience and a more than a little embarassed that I had been so silly in the first place and decided to save Nevada peak for another day. Murphies law dictates that the tarn was going to be deeper than I thought and that the ice wasn't going to be as strong as it looked! If someone else was there I am not sure what they could have safely done to help me either?
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