Self-Rescue

The steps below are the protocol of the DLRG, the German lifesaving society, not a summary of someone's personal experience. It splits into two parts: while the ice still holds, and once it no longer does, and these call for different actions.

While the Ice Is Cracking but Still Holds

Lie flat to spread out the weight. Move toward shore on the stomach, arms spread wide. Break the thin ice ahead, and where it holds again, slide or roll across it without standing up. It's the same weight-distribution physics that makes a group of people on a small patch dangerous.

If a Person Falls Through

Getting out has to happen in the shortest possible time: within a few minutes the limbs stiffen enough that attempts fail. Contact with ice water causes sharp pain, and DLRG states plainly that all effort — mental and physical — goes toward not giving in to panic.

Which Direction to Get Out

Back toward where they came from: that ice has just held. It's the only direction anything is known about, which is why the path is tested with a stick on the way there, not on the way back.

When the Break Is Small

DLRG describes the technique directly: reach the far edge with the feet and push off from it. The body isn't lifted up but brought out onto the ice horizontally — again the same weight distribution, instead of trying to pull up vertically.

Why Picks Matter Most Right Here

Because a wet edge doesn't hold a bare palm at all. The harder a person hauls at it, the more surely they slide back, and the point gives a purchase the hand doesn't have. It's the one thing on the list that nothing else can replace.

Out of the Water Doesn't Mean Standing Up

They stay lying on the ice and move away from the break by rolling. The weight that just broke through the ice while standing will break it again. Next comes what's done afterward.