Skiing on frozen river
X-C skiing on a frozen river is safer than skating, snow-shoeing, and walking on it for the following reasons:
- The the areas of skis are 5 to 7 times that of shoes, so the pressure on the ice is 1/7 to ⅕ that of walking shoes, hence much less chance to break the ice.
- The skier uses the ski poles to poke the ice constantly, so he can feel the risk as soon as he approaches an area with thin ice.
- There are small holes covered with thin ice. This can be dangerous for walking or skaing, but a skier can slide over these holes easily hidden holes easily.
Deep water with slow currents has thicker ice than that of shallow water with fast currents. The transition from thick ice to thin ice is usually gradual. One usually can stand on skis safely only 3 meters from open flowing water.
