The dangers of venturing onto frozen lakes & ponds

Despite the recent cold weather, the Hamilton police marine unit is urging people to stay off of the ice because they say it’s not safe yet.

In this video, Cst. John Devine showed us what happens when you fall through the ice and how to get out safely.

“We call it the 1-10-1 principle. When you fall through into ice water, 1 minute to control your breathing, 10 minutes before you lose motor skills, and less than 1 hour before hypothermia sets in.”

In Cootes Paradise the ice is about 3 inches thick, it’s ok to stand on but not safe for a group of people to play hockey just yet, that will come later this week. There are still spots of open water. If someone were to fall through the ice, they’d only go up to their knees because it’s not very deep. But Hamilton Harbour is a different story and a lot more dangerous.

“There’s a big difference between Cootes Paradise, big surface area very shallow water, Hamilton Harbour is a warmer body of water 10-90 feet, here we’re 1-2 feet.” Tys Theysmeyer, RBG.

Staff at the Royal Botanical Gardens expect Cootes paradise to be completely frozen over, and safe for skating by this weekend. While the marine unit says the ice at Hamilton Harbour will continue to be too dangerous to go out on.

For ice condition updates visit: conservationhamilton.ca/ice-status