Is there water under the snow on rivers too?

[jeffg463]

I understand the phenomenon of water under the snow on lakes, the weight of the snow forcing water up through cracks in the ice from the sheer weight of the snow pack. And in my experience this only happens with a lot of snow because it will only occur at my lake (Island Lake by the town of Athabasca) when there are years with more than average snow falls.
My question is, does this happen on the rivers too?
I love to go torquing down the Athabasca river but I am always uneasy thinking of going through to never been found again.
What is your guys take on the situation?
Do you trust the bigger rivers?
I notice in Edmonton there are no sled tracks on the North Saskatchewan, but the same North Saskatchewan river runs through my hometown of The Pas, Manitoba and it is a major sled route there.
Thanks in advance guys for your thoughts

 

[SHREK1]

don't like rivers , lots of other places to ride , north sask. is very unstable just my 2 bits

 

[Crazy8]

We rode a few creeks and lakes on the weekend, water everywhere. There was ice underneath but some places were a foot deep or so, even in the small creeks. Never rode the North Sask, I'd be wary though.

 

[MATTIAC]

I was never a fan of riding the athabasca. Not like it's smooth by any means in the winter. I trust the clearwater river in mcmuray after the few cold snaps. I used to drive the river with my truck all the time. If you do come across water it's time to get on the throttle.

 

[note]

I was walking on the sturgen river today and I broke through!!! yea theres 145 pounds! im going to stay OFF lakes and rivers.

 

[gibsons]

with the current in the rivers, i wouldn't be going on them.

 

[jeffg463]

with the current in the rivers, i wouldn't be going on them.

That's kinda my fears too. But up at Athabasca they hold their annual poker derby on the river and their sled club is called "The Athabasca River Runners".

There sure are a lot of tracks on the river up there, but I wondered if they're from dummies like me.

As for the North Saskatchewan, I wouldn't ride it here, because of the no tracks, but like I say, back home everybody does it and I've never heard of anyone going through.
Just wish I had more concrete answers as I love to burn down the river, long runs, no barbed wire, excellent visibility, great scenery, but almost too worried to enjoy the whole experience.
Thanks for the replies and keep them coming

 

[OverBore]

When it comes to rivers you have to ask yourself if there is ice under the snow rather than water on the ice!!

 

[teeroy]

no sledding on the peace river....but the smoky is a blast.

 

[TABSTER]

nice hand guards......

 

[TROLLCAT]

the current of water can wash the ice away from underneise making thin ice you fall threw and the current takes care of the rest , in pease
I fall though shelf ice the water was 1 foot lower than the ice then the hole creek was big peices of flowing ice my brand new 2001 600MC got hung up on the rocks saved her 2weeks to dry that pussy out cold friggin ride home

 

[northern bear]

I like running the pembina around sangudo. But given the fact not much ice formed before the snow came and the amount, I would be very wary of rivers. Perhaps with this warm weather and some places rain the snow pack settled and the insulating factor is less, With some cold weather it may be alright.

 

[teeroy]

nice hand guards......

deflect just enough wind to keep the paws toasty at -20. that was her last day running....

 

[ferniesnow]

The lake overflow contributes to the problem. The weight of the snow on the ice in the lakes forces more water into the creeks and rivers unless of course the lake is land locked. The higher volume wears the ice from underneath (as Trollcat mentioned) causing dangerous situations.

The Pas has a long cold winter and similar places have ice roads not only for sleds but for vehicular traffic as well.

I like my mountains even tho' I have avi dangers....in my mind those are manageable.

 

[chadwik74]

I've been running the Athabasca for 20+ yrs. Sometimes a lil overflow, but pretty rare. Just gotta know where to run it. Having a jetboat and knowing the depths probably helps a bit...but I wouldn't be scared to get on it and head to Smith like I've done many years before.

 

[foxrider]

I was gonna go for a ride down to brodick lake near smokeylake tomorrow and see how it is, imagine there would be 8 inches of flood water but gonna strap my handauger to the sled and go and try for an hour. too much snow and too much flood water for my liking to go with vehicles especially with all the warm weather.

If its not cold for the ice to be freezing, the ice begins to 'rot' and becomes soft and bends even more. meaning your more likely to go through. When you have good solid black ice and hear cracking, your perfectly safe, assuming you have more than 12'' of ice under you. The cracking means the ice is strong and is not flexing under the weight of your pick up. If you get flood water then when it does freeze,its not as strong as the black ice and is a milky color of ice. You get the potential for pockets of water to not freeze between the flood water ice and the original ice, which is what I broke through last season on the last day of fishing, we were moving along went off the trail, then BOOM. We went down, and ice pieces the size of small table tops were coming over the hood and we were up to the grill in water, but we had enough speed to keep moving and we go out of the hole, I rode back on the sled a couple days later and you could see where we had broken through half a mile away.

Anyways I have no clue what i was talking about but stay off the rivers.

 

[shoppingcart111]

Yup!

 

[H2SNOW]

its called overflow ..we have it on almost every fricken piece of water this year ..when in doubt stay the fawk out !

 

[finkous]

we would always be the first run the embarass river from our cabin in robb early in the winter and it was always nerve racking, altho its not very deep in spots, there are some other spots that are... but once ya made a track it would freeze that much more beneath the track, and before ya know it was a good trail up the river, but you would find later on in the season that open holes would appear beside the trail, just shows that the river never stops flowing and will always have weak spots

 

[barleyfarmer]

I live north of Vega and cross the Athabasca river!I know the river and don't trust riding it!The open holes and crappy ice spots move every year because of the sand bars and water levels.I'm the leader of the group so I'm the guinea pig that has to test it(cats don't like to get wet)and every year its different.We had some nasty cold weather before all the snow so I'm thinking the ice will be good but I know there WILL be flood water!Crossing will be fine and after the tracks freeze it should be worry free but I wouldn't stop in the middle to look around!But breaking through on a lake sucks but a river is worse because that current will suck you away!!Common sense will go along way and ride with more than 2 people because it will take more than that to get a sled out that is stuck in a foot of water and a couple feet of snow!! Be safe and when in doubt wind it out!!