Monthly Archives: December 2015

12-12 Panoramic view of the recovery area just downstream of McGrath – all pictures courtesy of Lucy Miller & Sam Samuelson

Despite all the efforts at open water marking along the Kuskokwim in recent days we were sorry to learn that a young man from McGrath was lost to open water near that community late last week. Casey Graham, age 24, drove into an open lead just around the bend from McGrath while enroute to Takotna.

It has been a long time since an under ice recovery effort has been conducted in that area. With that in mind and the extensive collective experience that BSAR has with this kind of work, we sent key member Sam Samuelson to McGrath to help our Upper Kuskokwim neighbors.

McGrath SAR members chain sawing away ice so that a new area of the river bottom can be checked. Notice the frosted trees – common near open water in cold weather –

Recovery efforts extend well past dark. McGrath is much farther north and the days are even shorter this time of the year.

As of the evening of December 13, the snow machine and driver’s helmet have been recovered from the water.  Sam reports that the very strong current, slush under the ice, and water depth of 15′ – 18′ is making the good work being done more difficult but the crew is very positive and working well together. Community support is outstanding.

Wall tent heated with a space heater – a place for searchers to warm up and work on frozen equipment is very important when conducting a winter open water recovery. This is a well organized effort.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the McGrath search crew. A big thank you to Sam Samuelson for volunteering to go up and assist.

We are all hopeful for a successful recovery.

Thank you.

Additional Updates from below McGrath:

• the ice was still flowing above Stony River
• the River recently stopped moving at Sleetmute and  the recent cold weather has allowed travel between there and Red Devil
• there was major ice shifting in the middle Kuskokwim during the last few days of November as far down as the Kolmokofsky River. Cold weather has glued the ice back together but it is rough.
• A trail has been established upstream from Aniak to Napaimute. No trail above Napaimute as there is major open water from there to Crooked Creek
• A lightly traveled trail has been established from Aniak to Kalskag. The largest open hole on the Kuskokwim is located below Harry’s gravel pit. It is over 2 miles long.
• A lightly traveled trail has been established from Kalskag to Tuluksak on the River.
• There is a marked overland trail from Aniak to Bogus Creek above Tuluksak
• There is one large UNMARKED open hole just off the trail above Akiak
• The holes at the upper end of Kuskokwaq Slough are marked.
• There is still an UNMARKED open hole on the east side of the River across from Wassillie B. Evan’s camp.

Chuathbaluk SAR members preparing to mark the 6 open holes between their village and Aniak. L-R: Jeffrey Hunter & Cameron Phillips

On November 29 the River 5 miles below Napaimute split all the way across. Above this the ice broke up and shifted all around. It’s all freezing back together again now.

Here is some ice load information gathered from various sources. Please note that not everyone agrees on the safe ice thicknesses for various loads and that there are many variables to consider when determining if the ice is safe for the load you want to put on it. This post is just for general information purposes.

From the Army Corp of Engineers:

Every winter it becomes very important to know when the ice is safe to use. Here are some guidelines for determining the safety of freshwater ice. The following table of safe loads is valid ONLY for ice that is clear and sound, with no flowing water underneath. It is not reliable for stationary loads. When in doubt, stay off the ice !

It is highly recommended that you familiarize yourself with the Safety on Floating Ice Sheets information by CRREL.

Loads on Ice

From www.engineeringtoolbox.com:

Safe loads for clear solid ice are indicated below:

Note that ice strength is influenced by many factors

• age – newer black ice is stronger than old milky
• distance to shore – ice close to shore is weaker than ice farther out
• river outlets and inlets – ice close to outlets and inlets is weaker
• obstructions like rocks, trees and plants
• water currents
• cover of snow

 This information must be used a general guide – keep off the ice if you are not absolutely sure.

12-4 Straight Slough Open Water Marking Map: red circles are open water, yellow lines are where willow markers with BLUE reflectors were spaced 15 feet apart. Straight Slough is 1,000 feet wide at the lower end and 1,200 feet wide at the upper end

Today an 11 person BSAR team marked off both ends of Straight Slough to discourage travel through that area. There are still three open holes in Straight Slough. This is more than we have ever seen in the Slough – especially in December.

Because of the unusual number of open holes, at Thursday night’s BSAR planning meeting it was agreed that it would be better to mark across the entire width of both the lower and upper ends of Straight Slough than to try to mark each individual hole. This is the first time that BSAR has completely marked off any part of the River in the Bethel area. We hope that this will send a clear message that the Slough should be avoided completely – for now.

Marking across the 1,000′ wide lower end

Marking across the 1,200′ wide upper end

BSAR would like to remind People that BLUE REFLECTORS MEAN OPEN WATER – STAY AWAY.

Part of the team: L-R Norman Japhet, Doug Lee, Charles Guest, Jack Beaver

Good work by a good crew. With the major danger in the Bethel area taken care of, BSAR will begin reaching out to our neighboring villages to assist them with open water marking in their areas. Any village SAR teams needing help, please contact BSAR.

Thank you to all that came out to help today.

CLOSE CALL CLOSE TO HOME: Boaters dragging for a snow machine that went into an open hole at the lower end of Straight Slough on December 1st. You can see Bethel in the background

Despite BSAR’s efforts to get the word out about the dangers of early season winter travel on the River, the word never reaches everyone and there’s some that don’t listen anyway.

On December 1st a snow machine with one adult and two children on board drove into the open hole at the lower end of Straight Slough.

We are very thankful that all three made it out of the water. The snow machine was lost.

BSAR will be working over the next few days to get this very dangerous area marked. Volunteers are needed.

Please help us get the word out: Travelers must avoid Straight Slough. Traffic above Bethel should use the trail around Joe Pete’s Bend to Church Slough.

Also with truck traffic opening up on the River, BSAR did some additional ice measuring along the route from Bethel to Napaskiak.

Ice thickness was consistently 10″ – 12″ thick. The top 2″ is snow ice which has less strength than good clear ice.

This thickness is considered marginal for trucks by experienced travelers. You can get away with it but please travel with extreme caution.

December 2 – Marginal Conditions for truck travel: Sample of ice taken right on the truck trail by Nick O. Nick’s old fish camp: this area was 11″ thick minus 2″ of snow ice = 9″ of good ice

That’s report.

Safe travels from BSAR

Thank you.

*Please note that this report is not an advisory that it is safe to travel. It is for informational purposes only.