Snowmobile tragity in Quebec

[ketchenany]

Just read this. 

https://ca.yahoo.com/news/5-snowmobilers-missing-falling-ice-105616724.html

[lew]

Lousy news for sure.

[Old Ironmaker]

Let the mud slinging begin. I don't expect any here but it has started based on the personal comments on the Yahoo article. Not 1 comment offering condolences. Tragic to say the least. I offer my condolences to the friends and family of the deceased, it looks like 6 have perished. 

[Fisherman]

Pretty sad, but here's the prevailing answer:

SQ spokesperson Hugues Beaulieu said the group deviated from the marked snowmobile paths — which are inspected daily — and went out onto the lake.

"They must not have known the area well, because it's an area known for having critically thin ice because of the current," Beaulieu said.

My FIL did some guiding years ago and said that was the biggest headache, trying to keep people from wandering(snowmobiling) off the trails.  They don't know the area, especially on a lake like that.

[Rizzo]

wow that is terrible.

[Big Cliff]

A wonderful adventure that ended in a terrible tragedy,  so very sad!

[Old Ironmaker]

There is an entire generation that do not know how far out on a branch you can climb before the branch breaks. There are Gen Xers and millennials that never learned to ride a bike because their parents, some of us, thought it was too dangerous. let alone climb a tree. The same may have applied here if the group went off the grid, no common sense of danger. I'm sure there will be an inquest and hopefully it answers some questions the families will have. 

[fishing]

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/one-dead-five-french-tourists-145521784.html

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/five-french-tourists-missing-deadly-194907523.html

Edited January 23, 2020 by fishing

[AKRISONER]

This is horrific. It sounds like the group of tourists were relying on a guide for their safety. What the now deceased guide was doing leading them where they went we will never know. Perhaps he became disoriented or lost? Just an absolute perfect storm has cost a bunch of people their lives.

its so shocking that it sounds like the tourists weren’t even fully aware of what was going on as it happened. They had their friends go through and disappear and they didn’t realize what had happened until they couldn’t get them on the phone hours later.

 

wow just horrible.

[NAW]

I know guys who ride there and have used that guiding service before.  They did not know this specific guide, but they did call and check to make sure it wasn't their usual guide.

It's a tragedy for sure, but definitely could have been avoided.   From what I understand it's nutritiously bad for ice.   And all the guides are very well aware of that. 

 

Sad.  We all make mistakes though. 

[Fisherman]

I'm just wondering why the are not issued float suits if traversing ANY amount of water.  I don't imagine tourists would go out a buy a suit for just a couple days riding.

[kickingfrog]

It's interesting to see people using something like this to take shots at other groups (groups that don't appear to factor into this tragedy). Just this week some numbers were released on snowmobile deaths in Ontario over the last 10 years. The numbers don't point to "younger" people. The numbers show that it's males, drinking, aged 45-54 and driving machines off trail. We (men) are great at killing ourselves doing all sorts of dumb things both sober and drunk. Maybe before blaming a younger generation raised by the older generations, we should look at our own generation. 

Now, get off my lawn.

Edited January 24, 2020 by kickingfrog

[Fisherman]

1 hour ago, kickingfrog said:

It's interesting to see people using something like this to take shots at other groups (groups that don't appear to factor into this tragedy). Just this week some numbers were released on snowmobile deaths in Ontario over the last 10 years. The numbers don't point to "younger" people. The numbers show that it's males, drinking, aged 45-54 and driving machines off trail. We (men) are great at killing ourselves doing all sorts of dumb things both sober and drunk. Maybe before blaming a younger generation raised by the older generations, we should look at our own generation. 

Now, get off my lawn.

Not taking "shots" at any group, age or otherwise or what the common underlying cause was or is.   I can only surmise the guide or leader had one of those brain fart moments where unfortunate things happen in not much more than a couple of seconds.  Like I said before I have family up in the region, one who did trail guiding and could grit teeth when the group "decided" to venture off.  Who knows what happened other than a tragedy.

[cisco]

Condolences to all the families affected by such a tragedy. Everyone has to remember that guided paths on the ice were made gradually and safely by compacting the snow to minimize the insulating properties so ice gets thicker there. Stray off the path and you're on thinner ice. Also realize that later in the day the ice won't be as safe having had sun and milder temps on it. 

[kickingfrog]

2 hours ago, Fisherman said:

Not taking "shots" at any group, age or otherwise or what the common underlying cause was or is.   I can only surmise the guide or leader had one of those brain fart moments where unfortunate things happen in not much more than a couple of seconds.  Like I said before I have family up in the region, one who did trail guiding and could grit teeth when the group "decided" to venture off.  Who knows what happened other than a tragedy.

Likely I wasn't talkin' 'bout you.

[Old Ironmaker]

1 hour ago, kickingfrog said:

Likely I wasn't talkin' 'bout you.

No you were talking about me. That's OK, I can take an opinion as well as give an opinion.  2 bucks and an opinion will get you a coffee at Horton's. 

Edited January 25, 2020 by Old Ironmaker

[kickingfrog]

Some are only worth 2 bits.

[Fisherman]

Lets not have this go downhill, hopefully people have learned from this tragedy and it doesn't happen again.

[kickingfrog]

That's right. We need to stay on topic. Disparaging a generation that had nothing to do with this event.

[lew]

Mentioned on the news this morning that one body was recovered a couple K downstream but now they've called off the search for the others.

Evidently it's a pretty strong current thru there.

[fishing]

 A Quebec provincial police search-and-rescue team retrieved the bodies of two more French snowmobilers who plunged into the water last Tuesday in the province's Lac-Saint-Jean region.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/quebec-police-bodies-two-four-185606441.html