Falling temperatures, blowing snow and dangerous travel conditions

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Six people were rescued Sunday evening after two of the snowmobiles they were riding fell through the ice on Lake Vermilion, about 30 miles west of Ely in northeast Minnesota. 

Four adults and two children were riding on a marked trail on the lake shortly before 6:30 p.m. near Tavern in the Bay, a bar and restaurant outside the town of Tower. 

The two lead snowmobiles went through the ice, said Nate Skelton, division commander for the St. Louis County Sheriff’s office. 

The other members of the party saw what happened and stopped their vehicles in time to avoid falling through the ice themselves. They then helped pull their family members on to the ice, with help from patrons and employees at the restaurant. 

Five of the six were sent to a hospital in Virginia because of exposure to the wet and cold. One of the snowmobiles sunk into the lake, Skelton said. Another remained stuck in the ice. 

The accident occurred along a pressure ridge on the ice, formed when ice expands and contracts from fluctuations in the air temperature. 

Those ridges can be dangerous to snowmobilers in a few ways. There’s often weaker ice around ridges. They also can create raised ridges of ice that drivers can run into, explained Mike Indihar, president of the Vermilion Penguins Snowmobile Club, which stakes 60 miles of snowmobile trails on the eastern side of Lake Vermilion with reflectorized markings to help riders navigate at night. 

The ridges also can push the ice down. When that happens, the area can be flooded with water on top of the ice. 

“So you're maybe not going to drown, but hypothermia can easily set in, because you can't walk out. It's too slippery to walk out,” said Indihar. 

That’s what he suspects happened to the snowmobilers Sunday evening. The snowmobile club had placed warnings and caution signs in other areas nearby. But he said the trouble spot where the snowmobilers submerged had just developed in the past couple days as temperatures warmed. 

Indihar says colder temperatures this week should firm the ice up again. But he advises people not to travel on Lake Vermilion this week, especially at night. 

“The lake is always dynamic, even in the middle of winter,” Indihar said. “With cold weather, we should be good by the weekend again. But people really have to use caution when driving on the lake, and probably should not be out on the lake during the dark.”

Authorities around the state are reminding people to use extreme caution when on frozen lakes. 

In western Minnesota, an ATV went through the ice on Big Stone Lake on Saturday and became completely submerged. Nearby fishermen were able to help pull the two riders out of the water. 

The Big Stone County Sheriff’s Office said it was the second ATV in three days to become submerged in the same area. 

“Drive responsibly,” advised Skelton. “Make sure you know where your surroundings are, know where you are, and just because you're on a marked trail doesn't mean that there's not any hazards that you might encounter.”

Disasters

Lifestyle

Outdoors

NewsPartners

Homepage

Minnesota News

Duluth News

Dan Kraker

Author

The snowmobiles went through the ice on a marked trail on the lake outside Tower, Minn. Patrons and workers at a nearby restaurant helped pull the people to safety. 

A view of ice with water emerging through cracks.

Six people rescued after two snowmobiles go through the ice on Lake Vermilion

Go Deeper.

Like this?