What makes slush so dangerous to a snowmobiler

With a compass, a backpack, an old Alouette Eliminator , and a desire to explore the great beyond, I was off. Snowmobiling to me is motorized cross-country skiing. My love of remote snowmobiling means an occasional encounter with slush. Follow these self-rescue tips: Kick vigorously into a horizontal position and swim to the nearest ice edge. Once clear, stay flat and roll away to stronger ice. Stand, keep moving and find shelter fast. Rob Bick, an avid skier, snowmobiler, climber and photographer, would rather spend a cold snowy day in the mountains than a warm, sunny day by the pool.

Editor's Picks All products featured are carefully reviewed and selected by our editors. So even when the conditions are almost unbearable, like last winter, they have to figure out how to get their clients out on the ice, keep them safe and dry, and put them on fish. Having spent the better part of the last two decades doing just that means both guides have learned more than a few tricks to fish through deep-slush conditions without completely ruining their days.

Both Breuer and Hawthorne emphasized the need to know the ice and slush conditions before you go out and to be prepared for them. Wheelers are getting stuck, but the guys on the snowmobiles are fine. During a large portion of last ice fishing season, travel was restricted to snowmobiles. All snowmobiles are not created equal, though.

Otherwise, the next option would be going to something super light, like maybe an older sled that hardly weighs anything. That can be beneficial as well, because it allows you to run across a lot faster without depressing into the snow too much.

That might mean leaving the portable shelters behind, and it could also mean making multiple trips. And if you can do that, maintain that, what that does is build a really good trail for yourself as well. In years with normal snow fall, the snow cover in slushy areas will typically appear a bit darker, and the area will be slightly sunk, usually in the shape of a circle.

Extremely deep snow, like we experienced last year, can complicate things significantly, though. And then we had to wait two or three weeks before the snow melted and the slush tightened up, before we could go back in and recover our snowmachines, ice fishing equipment and all of our camera gear.

So, the first rule of dealing with slush is elementary: avoid it at all costs. The second rule is to leave your sleds, ice huts, toboggans, shacks—anything you might think about pulling—at home. And when you feel slush sucking your machine, do not slow down.

He was steering and running the snowmobile, when we suddenly saw another snowmobiler well ahead of us waving his arms. Share Tweet. The best way to stay safe in slush: Stay out of it! Start typing to see results or hit ESC to close sportfishing fishing anglers canada angling.

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