icebreaker

The dates of freezing and ice breaking vary considerably from year to year.

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Sephane, 35, a captain on a ice breaking ship in the Canadian Arctic, missed the start of the trek because of injuries he sustained in a car crash.

"It was really terrifying," said teacher Steve Van Oostveen, remembering the ice breaking apart a few feet from where the group was traveling on snowmobiles.

The most imposing part of Impression Debacle was two continuous videotapes of ice breaking up on the Chaudiere River in Beauce (a province of Quebec) projected on two adjacent walls.

If fees are eventually proposed for ice breaking and dredging, there will be full consultation, he said.

Fisheries using aerators or conducting regular ice breaking should have no problems; but some waters have been covered in ice and then layers of snow for weeks and this could prove too much for the stock of fish underneath.

Unfortunately the lake had frozen over after dark and the fish, which was a hefty mirror that weighed 31lb, was only steered into the landing net after some frantic ice breaking.