Ice Picks, a Throw Line, and a Phone

The list is short, and every item on it answers one question: what does a hand do in the first few minutes. Anything that requires reaching farther than arm's length falls off the list.

Ice Picks

Two handles with a point, joined by a cord and worn around the neck, so they come to hand without a search. The point is about the physics of an edge: wet ice doesn't hold a bare palm at all, grip there is close to zero, and the harder a person hauls at it, the more surely they slide back into the water. The point creates a spot to catch where the hand has none.

A Throw Line

A rope thrown from a safe distance. Ukraine's State Emergency Service recommends carrying one, and DLRG's whole protocol is built on helping from a distance. We don't name a length: it differs from service to service, and the point isn't the number of meters but making sure help travels on a rope from shore, not on foot across the ice.

A Stick

Used to test the path ahead. It answers "does it hold here," not "does it hold farther on," which is why it goes together with the list of places, not instead of it.

A Board or Branch by the Hole

This looks like an odd item to keep, until someone pictures a break opening in the ice beneath them. It's what a person who's fallen through will grab, and what gets handed to them without approaching too close. The service names it directly among the things kept next to the hole.

A Phone That Survives Water

In a waterproof case and on the body, not in a box. A wet phone doesn't dial, and a phone in a backpack on shore doesn't exist for the person in the water. The number is each country's own — one to know in advance, not to look up at the moment it's needed.

What's Not on the List

Anything that needs two free hands or fine motor control. This isn't a judgment on the quality of such things, it's a consequence of the same fact about a few minutes: by the time they'd be needed, the fingers no longer respond. What comes next — a separate card.