This was not an exercise and it ended well.

Today was one snowmobilers lucky day! At around 3:00 P.M. three snowmobiler were crossing the ice when one snowmobile and rider broke through the ice. The two remaining riders use their cell phones to call 911. They then rushed to this beach area on the mainland to meet rescue crews. The Madeline Island volunteer fire department made the rescue of the rider. The rider had managed to pull himself up onto the ice (he had ice picks a self rescue tool). Details about how long he was in the water or on the ice before rescuers arrived were not clear but one rescuer said 3-4 minutes in the water before he managed to get himself onto the ice. The rider suffer "mild" hypothermia. The snowmobile remains on the bottom.

These rescue crews were wrapping up a successful ice rescue when I arrived at Bayview Beach. The top photo: Washburn Fire and Rescue, the Bayfield WI U.S. Coast Guard, Ashland and Bayfield County Sheriff departments. The middle photo: Madeline Island ice rescue boat returning to Madeline Island after making the rescue. The bottom photo: The two remaining snowmobiles. Notice the X in the upper left corner of this photo ( just off the point of land). This was the point of the breakthrough.