Cold Snap Forms Straits Ice; Riders Cross at Own Risk
Four Islanders First To Cross Feb. 13
By Ryan Schlehuber

An aerial view of St. Ignace and Moran Bay. The U.S. Coast Guard reported Thursday, February 15, there were areas of open water in the Straits of Mackinac, as seen in the photograph. The four men who crossed over the ice from Mackinac Island said they encountered no open areas on the trail they marked. The U.S. Coast Guard and local police do not condone traveling across the ice. "Everybody knows, or should know, that you travel over the ice bridge at your own risk," said Jason St. Onge, one of four Island residents who crossed over the ice Tuesday, February 13.

A February cold spell has made an ice bridge between Mackinac Island and St. Ignace, and four Island residents crossed over to the mainland Tuesday afternoon, February 13. Others are not ready to trust the ice just yet.

Despite areas of open water, Islanders Jason St. Onge, Brett Horn, Bobby Horn, and Franc Doud made the three-mile journey with their snowmobiles last week.

Larry Belonga of St. Ignace, who has traveled over the ice bridge for 40 years, said Friday, February 16, the ice where the four men crossed is "full of holes."

Four Mackinac Island residents crossed over the ice to St. Ignace Tuesday, February 13. The men walked across the ice, testing the thickness of it every 100 yards. They then rode snowmobiles across the trail, marking it with branches. Afterward, the trail was marked by discarded Christmas trees. Pictured are (from left) Bobby Horn, Brett Horn, and Jason St. Onge, who is wearing a life jacket and holding a needle bar, which is used to spud, or dig, a hole in the ice to check for thickness. (Photograph courtesy of Jason St. Onge) Take us with All the headlines

"Right now, I wouldn't cross it," he said. "They [the first crossers] just happened to pick a good spot where they could make a straight shot to St. Ignace."

One of the four men, while on their return trip to the Island, ran out of gas. The men left the sled on the ice for the night, however, the U.S. Coast Guard received calls of an abandoned sled and began investigating, fearing that someone had fallen in. A 9-1-1 dispatcher in Negaunee reached the owner of the sled, who said he would retrieve it the next day.

Although not sanctioned by police or the U.S. Coast Guard, some Islanders cross the ice bridge because travel is fast and convenient. Once boat service stops, safe transportation is by air, from the Mackinac County Airport in St. Ignace. Arnold Transit stopped ferry service for the winter Saturday, February 3.

"None of us, or anyone, for that matter, can say that the ice bridge is ever safe to go over," said Mr. St. Onge. "Everybody knows, or should know, that you travel over the ice bridge at your own risk."

Ice was solid enough for the group to travel over and back that day. It was also reported by residents that a group of snowmobilers brought over a piece of building material that weighed 400 pounds the following day.

The four-man group tried to cross the previous week, but high winds wiped out much of the ice near the Island.

To test the ice, Islanders walk out onto it, checking the thickness every few hundred yards by spudding holes. As a precaution, Mr. St. Onge says he always wears a life jacket.

Once a trail is spudded from shoreline to shoreline, volunteers use discarded Christmas trees to mark the trail. During good winters, it is common to see more than one route marked by trees between St. Ignace and Mackinac Island.

In the past, before air service, the ice bridge was a lifeline for Islanders, when horses would bring hay, food supplies, building material, and mail for the Island community. But horses and sled dogs have fallen victim to the ice, which can change with underwater currents, winds, and changing temperatures.

Mr. Belonga remembers 30 years ago when two men skating to the Island became stranded on an ice floe and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard.

As an ice bridge-crossing veteran, Islander Armand "Smi" Horn, 74, knows all too well about close calls, having experienced his most frightening one on his most recent ride over on Thursday, February 15.

"I had a problem with trying to make it over a crack on the ice," he said. "I don't like hitting cracks too hard because I'm afraid of making it worse for the next guy having to go over it, so I try to go slower over it. I guess I went two miles per hour too slow, because I almost didn't make it over. I could have easily slid back into the crack, but my sled caught on."

As of Monday, February 19, the pressure crack across part of the ice bridge was reported to be approximately four feet wide.

Mr. Horn remembers in the 1940s when he and Bob St. Onge rode a single-horse sleigh across the ice to get groceries from the mainland. As they were returning to the Island late at night, a runner on the sleigh broke. The two men unhitched the horse and rode it back to shore.

Early in the 1950s, Mr. Horn also recalls a time when three men, Ray O'Brien, Clarence Vance, and John Bloswick, started a transportation service called RVB, which offered transportation for passengers and goods across the ice on motor sleighs, the predecessor to snowmobiles.

"I remember coming over with Ray one day and there was a northwest wind," Mr. Horn said. "The wind flipped the motor sleigh and we hit the snow. Jim Francis saw us as he flew over in his plane. He landed it right on the ice to check on us."

Mr. Horn said Mr. Francis then flew Mr. O'Brien back to the Island to retrieve tools to fix the sleigh, while Mr. Horn waited on the ice.

"There are too many memorable moments," he said. "I've been lucky. As many times as I've gone across, I've never thought it was safe."

Tim Horn, another ice crosser, made 98 round trips in the winter of 2005, hauling supplies over from the mainland for a restaurant. He says he has his own ways of knowing when to cross over the ice bridge.

"When she was alive, I used to wait for Barbara Smith to go over. She was 75 years old then, so I knew if she could go over, I could," he laughed. "Nowadays, I wait four or five days after the first guys cross over to let the ice get really solid.

"When I made all those trips, I would get a lot of people asking me how the ice bridge was," he continued. "You can never tell them that it's safe."

Over the years, a number of Islanders have lost their lives to the fickle ice, sometimes by straying off the path and sometimes by plunging through spots worn thin by currents under the ice.

In 2005, a Bear Lake man fell through the ice near the Island's shore, as he and two others were riding their snowmobiles to the Island from Cedarville, a route even Islanders don't take. The man, who fell through ice in about 10 feet of water, suffered a mild case of hypothermia.

"I don't know how people can rely on that ice enough to cross it," said Mackinac Island Police Lieutenant Pete Komblevitz. "That ice can change by the hour. With the currents flowing underneath, you can never tell how much that changes the ice."

General safety tips for ice crossing that some Islanders use:

+ Do not cross alone.

+ Do not cross in adverse weather and avoid crossing at night.

+ Be familiar with trails and cross only on well marked trails.

+ Be aware of advisories posted; if entrances to the ice bridge are taped off with yellow caution tape, do not travel onto the ice bridge.

+ Drive at a reasonable speed.

+ Equip snowmobiles with emergency equipment, such as flashlights and rope for towing.

+ Be familiar with self-rescue methods.

+ Dress appropriately and wear a helmet.