Ice on Valley lakes still unstable

JOHN DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

BIG LAKE -- A pickup truck broke through the ice and nearly sank while plowing the Big Lake ice road Monday, eyewitnesses reported.

Jerry Harris, owner of South Port Marina, was plowing snow off the ice road when the weight of the snowplow caused the ice to give way, nearly sinking his truck.

Harris said he was trying to remove snow from the winter ice road to help it freeze over faster, but while pushing snow off to the side, he drove slightly off the roadway and the weight of the plow caused the truck to break through a soft spot in the ice.

"We're going to let it set until it's completely frozen over," Harris said. "[The truck] went through the layer of overflow; there's another layer of ice under there."

Currently, the truck is frozen in position, about 250 feet off shore, with nearly half of it under the ice and half sticking out. A spokesperson at the marina said they are trying to figure out how to cut the truck out of the ice.

Harris said the ice was about eight inches thick where the truck fell in. Although cars and trucks have driven over the area since then, he does not recommend taking anything but a snowmachine out on the lake.

"With the weather the way it's been we're hoping people will be able to drive to their cabins, but we have not opened the gate yet," Harris said. "The lake is not safe for people to drive cars or trucks across right now."

Ron Durheim, coordinator for the Mat-Su Dive Rescue Team, said Mat-Su lakes remain hazardous in areas, and since lakes in the borough are technically all state-owned, no one is regularly measuring ice conditions.

"All the lakes are unstable right now," Durheim said. "The trouble is, every place you go it's different; it's unpredictable."

Durheim's primary concern is variance in ice thickness. Because many Mat-Su lakes have creeks flowing into them, ice thickness varies.

Ice thickness should be at least three inches for cross-country skiing, four inches for ice-fishing, five inches for snowmachines, eight inches for a car or a light truck and 10 inches or more for a full-sized truck, Durheim said.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported the ice on Finger Lake was 10 to 12 inches thick as of Monday, but Big Lake's ice was unstable earlier this week.

Although he recommends drilling a hole in the ice to measure its thickness before taking a vehicle over it, Durheim also cautions that as few as four feet over in any direction, ice conditions could be different.

"All these lakes have underice currents, so it can vary greatly," Durheim said. "There are some places on Wasilla Lake and Big Lake where it never freezes."

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.