Riding Fat tire bikes across a frozen lake to Portage Glacier

[JakeS]

We had a strange winter this year but portage lake froze with the clearest smoothest ice I have ever seen. I was able to spend a day with friends exploring with fat tire bikes. The day started off overcast but ended up beautifully sunny.

Enjoy!

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I can’t take credit for all the drone flying. I did some and a friend of mine up here did some too.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Nice, liked it very much . . . Great footage at 1:15 !!

So was the ice very slippery under tyre (and foot) ?
I would have thought so, never had an opportunity to get on ice like that.

The glacier didn't look all that stable form the recent falls around, was that a calculated risk you were all willing to take, or are they a lot more stable than it looked ?

Once again, a great location to ride and film.

 

[JakeS]

Nice, liked it very much . . . Great footage at 1:15 !!

So was the ice very slippery under tyre (and foot) ?
I would have thought so, never had an opportunity to get on ice like that.

The glacier didn't look all that stable form the recent falls around, was that a calculated risk you were all willing to take, or are they a lot more stable than it looked ?

Once again, a great location to ride and film.

We were using studded tire or it would have been extremely slippery. It was difficult to stand or walk on the lake itself but the snow covered areas (ground) were fine. The areas we went close to the glacier were the most stable but also a calculated risk. The active face of the glacier is currently pushing into and calving into the lake but we stayed well clear of that. Other people go close to it but that’s extremely dangerous. My friend and I have decades of glacier and mountaineering experiments so we know what to look for and watch for. About a week later a piece from the active face that was 100m across and 70-80m high came down and broke the lake ice up across the entire lake. I had a friend that was standing out there when that happened. He had to stay still on the piece of ice he was on till the waves stopped! I don’t recommend people do stuff like without someone who knows what they are doing going along.

Thanks for the kind words.
Cheers

 

[AMann]

We had a strange winter this year but portage lake froze with the clearest smoothest ice I have ever seen. I was able to spend a day with friends exploring with fat tire bikes. The day started off overcast but ended up beautifully sunny.

Enjoy!

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I can’t take credit for all the drone flying. I did some and a friend of mine up here did some too.

Wow! Great camerawork! When I was about 10, I was once shore fishing on what I thought was shoreline until it broke off behind me and started to carry me down the intake stream into a lake. Luckily, I was able to jump off and make it back to shore before the chunk of ice floated out into the lake. I certainly know what you mean by only going out on ice if you know what you’re doing!

 

[JakeS]

Wow! Great camerawork!

Thank you!

 

[AMann]

Just curious, what time of year did you shoot that?

 

[JakeS]

Just curious, what time of year did you shoot that?

This was early March.

 

[Thomas Fields]

Beautiful video. Very well done. It gave me some ideas.
Thanks for posting it.

 

[Madmax229]

Well done, I got cold just watching it!

 

[Jim D]

Fantastic! I too was wondering about the slippery ice and figured you must have used studs. I wouldn't want to spend much time in that icefall, but on a cold day I guess a quick shot might be worth it.

 

[JakeS]

Fantastic! I too was wondering about the slippery ice and figured you must have used studs. I wouldn't want to spend much time in that icefall, but on a cold day I guess a quick shot might be worth it.

I definitely wouldn’t risk it on a warm summer day. Some areas are the most stable currently and for about another month. Then everything begins to shift rapidly due to warmer weather. Ice caves are some of my favorite places to explore but after mid April or so they can’t be trusted. We didn’t spend much time close to the ice fall. Observing and listening to the ice is key before going anywhere near. Even then it still poses a risk.

Most people think glaciers are safe in the winter and only move(flow and calve) in the summer but actually they are active year round. A flowing glacier is always moving regardless of temp purely due to gravity and weight. It’s quite amazing actually. I’ve stood near glaciers at -20f and you can hear and feel them push into the lake ice. They still calve then as well. There are stable glaciers that don’t move or flow downhill and those are fantastic for ice cave exploration but still when summer hits they become too risky.

Thanks for watching!

Cheers

 

[Drone on]

We had a strange winter this year but portage lake froze with the clearest smoothest ice I have ever seen. I was able to spend a day with friends exploring with fat tire bikes. The day started off overcast but ended up beautifully sunny.

Enjoy!

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I can’t take credit for all the drone flying. I did some and a friend of mine up here did some too.

That was fun

when riding on the ice, did you ever apply the brakes. If so, were you able to stop?

 

[Walt]

Outstanding!

We had a strange winter this year but portage lake froze with the clearest smoothest ice I have ever seen. I was able to spend a day with friends exploring with fat tire bikes. The day started off overcast but ended up beautifully sunny.

Enjoy!

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I can’t take credit for all the drone flying. I did some and a friend of mine up here did some too.

 

[JakeS]

Outstanding!

Thank you!