Most of Yellowknife's lakes are now six inches in ice thickness, the threshold needed to be able to walk on and head out on the sleds.
The news comes from the Great Slave Snowmobile Association, who posted their findings to Facebook on Monday. Areas that have reached the required safe thickness include the areas of Back Bay around Morrison Drive, the Wardair dock and Air Tindi; Frame Lake at both city hall and the Co-op; both the Long Lake boat and plane launches; the centres of Fault Lake and Rat Lake; Range Lake behind the Circle K; and Kam Lake by Curry Drive.
The areas still to reach six inches include the Yellowknife Bay boat launch, the Dettah ice road at School Draw Avenue and other parts of Kam Lake.
If you are going out on your sleds, there are several things to remember, according to Shaun Morris, the association's president.
"Make sure you have enough gas, check your oil levels, do you have a spare belt in case yours breaks, can you change a spark plug or do you know how to?,” he said in a previous interview with NNSL Media back in January. “I always like to pack extra mitts, an extra balaclava and even extra wool socks because those can get wet pretty easy. The wool socks are good to help keep a Thermos warm and the socks dry.”
Another handy tip is telling someone where you are in case something goes awry, he added.
“Have a plan, leave a note for your husband or wife or make sure someone else knows you’re heading out,” he said. “That way if you aren’t back or if something happens, that person can start making calls to get help.”
The GSSA recommends not going out onto a body of water unless the thickness has reached at least three to four inches or more. Once it reaches six inches, no more testing will be done on that particular spot.
“We always tell people stay off (the ice) if the thickness is three inches or less,” said Morris.
If you’re part of a group ride, one thing Morris said you shouldn’t do is line up right behind another sledder.
That’s because if there’s an accident, it could cause a chain reaction.
“If something happens to the person in front of you and you can’t stop fast enough, you could run over them by accident or you could hit them, which could cause the person behind you to hit you and so on,” he said. “When we do rides with the kids, we always tell them to keep away from the rear of a sled so that way, you’re able to avoid hitting anyone if something goes wrong.”
But the biggest thing Morris said will ensure you have a safe ride? Common sense.
“Common sense isn’t so common anymore, but just be smart out there,” he said.
