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Two die in Ambler Skipping accident

November 11th 7:16 pm | Carey Restino Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

Two Ambler men perished on the Kobuk River early Tuesday morning after trying to "skip" their snowmachine over open water.

Alaska State Troopers reported Tuesday that Brandon Cleaveland, 21, and Roger Cleaveland, 29, were setting up fish traps at 1 a.m. on the Kobuk River when they came on a patch of open water on the river. A witness said the men tried to "skip" the open water but their Arctic Cat snowmachine failed to make it to the other side. A rope was thrown to the men, but the current in the river was too strong and both men went under the surface.

A search and rescue effort was launched from Ambler in a boat, and the bodies of both men were recovered. Efforts to revive the men were unsuccessful.

The deaths are a tragic example of why the risky practice of skipping — attempting to drive a snow machine over open water — should be avoided, said Sgt. Duane Stone with the Alaska State Troopers in Kotzebue.

Stone said skipping is dangerous enough on calm water, but in a situation like the one the two men encountered — a stretch of open water on a river where the current was strong enough to keep the water from freezing — the danger is compounded. Add to that the risk of being sucked under the ice and into near-freezing water and you have a recipe for disaster, said Stone.

"There is no way to make it safe," Stone said. "Skipping should always be discouraged unless it is an extreme emergency."

Stone said it's not surprising the men were unable to grab onto the rescue line. His own experiences with cold water immersion taught him that it only takes seconds for water to render even the strongest of people virtually immobile.

"It sounds really easy, but it's not," Stone said, adding that the cold water renders many people incapable of using their hands almost immediately. "It just drains the heat right out of you."

Stone said while there are often deaths in the area from people on ATVs or snowmachines going through the ice, they are not generally due to skipping.

"This was very foolish," Stone said.

 

Carey Restino can be reached at news@reportalaska.com

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