I don’t live in MN, but grew up there. Why do people think it is the lodges responsibility to help people that are stuck on the lake to get off durning snow storms. Everyone has a ton of weather appts on there phones and it shouldn’t be a surprise. I just don’t get it. When I had a wheel house I would have to pull it off when we got a bad storm, because it’s my problem to get it off the lake. I guess I just don’t get it.
People are idiots. This storm was predicted several days in advance and the winds were known to blow on the backside of it.
I rarely use resorts or their roads, nor am I legally trained, but I suspect the answer has to do with the resorts charging to use their ice roads. If you are paying a resort for access to an area on a lake, there are probably some responsibilities on the resorts’ parts to do what they can to make sure their customers are given safe egress (exit) from the lake as well. I doubt if there are many written laws covering this, but probably plenty of attorneys would love to get paid to fight over this in court. Lots of different angles to look at this, but for the resort, I think they would be in a better legal position if they did everything they could to help folks get off the lake if their customers paid for access on their roads. And I agree that regardless of all that, common sense should take over and folks should fend for themselves rather than leave it up to anybody else. Additionally, the resorts would get a very poor reputation of they left folks stranded on their pay-for-access roads.
If a person can’t be responsible for himself he should not be in any place where he might need help. Go fish on Lake Superiors ice and have it break away and strand you. The Coast Guard will come pluck your sorry butt off the ice floe but your goodies stay on the ice.
If I had a resort and plowed a road for my customers using MY rental units, I’d help them off the ice if needed. Anyone wanting to enter the ice from my facility with their OWN equipment would sign a waiver stating that they themselves are responsible for getting off the ice with that equipment and that waiver would be signed BEFORE I took any money. Nobody is breaking arms to make people drive out there when the weather is forecast for days ahead of bad conditions. You go out, you get your own butt off.
I’d say a very small minority of people expect to get off the ice DURING a storm.
But if you’re paying a resort $10-20 a day, they WILL have you off in a reasonable amount of time AFTER the storm.
I can’t say I’ve ever had a bad experience using any resort’s road, you just have to have resonable expectations. They can’t change the weather.
No resort wants to be THAT resort where one or more people died after using their access on or off the lake. That’s why most are very careful about early ice access. I’m sure most things once you’re on the lake are pretty much a grey area and things become mostly your own responsibility. For the most part resorts are purely protecting their reputation.
People will go out in any weather on any amount of ice and it’s been proven time and time again. If I’m a resort owner I’m going to try to limit the stupid as much as I can.
This whole situation played out on Mille Lacs at the end of last ice season, and it was epic…headline news for the “cities” media.
Sure enough, most folks had their own weather apps with ample warnings and then most the resorts were sending messages to who they could who went out of their resorts to GET OFF before it hit. And that was part of the problem there, you can warn them to get off, but you can’t force or mandate them. They’re now out on a public area, not private property.
Many did heed the warning and got off before, but too many brushed it off believing it would be no big deal. Those are the one’s that don’t have a true understanding or appreciation for what those resorts do.
It was a true debacle and all the resorts I’m aware of made effort to “rescue” these naïve people. Some just did not have the equipment and resources to plow out that much snow and reopen roads miles out on the lake to get them off. Plows, trucks breaking apart…burned up transmissions, hydraulic hoses bursting.
Which brings up another issue, the growing phenomenon of ice fishing and wheelhouses. So many rookies now parading out on the lake with little or no experience and “assuming” they’ll get plowed out like back in their cushy “suburb” to get to Starbucks by 8 the next morning. 
yeah…nobody helped me when I was stuck on Upper Red…when a storm hit.
I suffered…I shoveled…I groveled…but I eventually got my own butt off the lake…What an adventure…snow shoveling the truck out…I forgot where I stopped for food afterwards but that was probably one of the best darn sit down meal at a restaurant I could ask for. LOL.
One decided to go out knowing, the other charged that same person to use their roads knowing… which ones the bigger idiot? The ones trapped out there or the one who’s gonna bust tail to get all those people off they charged to go out???
I suck at asking for help or even accepting it when offered. Sometimes it’s a liability/weakness, but it also keeps me out of situations like that.
I’m not saying don’t go fishing, but adjust your approach to match the conditions. If you walk out with snowshoes, gps, and a reasonable amount of gear, you should be able to get back safely on your own pretty much all the time. Walking will limit your range, yes — it also means you’re within a reasonable walk to safety.
I suck at asking for help or even accepting it when offered. Sometimes it’s a liability/weakness, but it also keeps me out of situations like that.
Amen Tangler
My wife HATES that about me and doesn’t understand, but I’m here at my keyboard so that tells you it works. 
I rarely use resorts or their roads, nor am I legally trained, but I suspect the answer has to do with the resorts charging to use their ice roads. If you are paying a resort for access to an area on a lake, there are probably some responsibilities on the resorts’ parts to do what they can to make sure their customers are given safe egress (exit) from the lake as well. I doubt if there are many written laws covering this, but probably plenty of attorneys would love to get paid to fight over this in court. Lots of different angles to look at this, but for the resort, I think they would be in a better legal position if they did everything they could to help folks get off the lake if their customers paid for access on their roads. And I agree that regardless of all that, common sense should take over and folks should fend for themselves rather than leave it up to anybody else. Additionally, the resorts would get a very poor reputation of they left folks stranded on their pay-for-access roads.
Isn’t the charge essentially a launch fee? If I pay at a resort to launch my boat in sh!t weather it’s on me to get my dumba$$ back safely. Sure the resorts may feel obligated to help, but not at the risk of themselves or their guests. I’m not comfortable enough to be out with my wheelhouse in this type of weather so I stayed home. Glad I did after reading some of the reports from up there.
It’s one thing to put yourself in that situation unprepared knowing full well what’s going to happen, is a whole different thing when you expect someone to get your sorry 
off the ice at your convenience. Please don’t expect someone to risk their wellbeing to get your stupid to safety.
Well, I have to think that it goes beyond just getting onto the lake … lots of time and money spend keeping roads plowed all winter. It would be interesting to hear from anybody who has first-hand knowledge of the liabilities involved with offering winter road access to lakes. Regardless, it probably has more to do with customer service and reputation. Leave a guy stranded out there and you probably are going to regret it one way or the other.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Kevin Yopp wrote:</div>
I rarely use resorts or their roads, nor am I legally trained, but I suspect the answer has to do with the resorts charging to use their ice roads. If you are paying a resort for access to an area on a lake, there are probably some responsibilities on the resorts’ parts to do what they can to make sure their customers are given safe egress (exit) from the lake as well. I doubt if there are many written laws covering this, but probably plenty of attorneys would love to get paid to fight over this in court. Lots of different angles to look at this, but for the resort, I think they would be in a better legal position if they did everything they could to help folks get off the lake if their customers paid for access on their roads. And I agree that regardless of all that, common sense should take over and folks should fend for themselves rather than leave it up to anybody else. Additionally, the resorts would get a very poor reputation of they left folks stranded on their pay-for-access roads.Isn’t the charge essentially a launch fee? If I pay at a resort to launch my boat in sh!t weather it’s on me to get my dumba$$ back safely. Sure the resorts may feel obligated to help, but not at the risk of themselves or their guests. I’m not comfortable enough to be out with my wheelhouse in this type of weather so I stayed home. Glad I did after reading some of the reports from up there.
That would be not much difference if paying a launch fee on say Lake Winnebago,then getting hit by a storm because you didn’t keep an eye on the sky.I have been on that lake when storms approach,and usually hightail back in before they hit.And then watch all those that waited at the last moment buck the waves coming in.
I truly don’t think people that come urban areas truly understand the wind and drifting in rural areas. I grew up on the farm and always have a respect for storms that pack a windy punch.
I truly don’t think people that come urban areas truly understand the wind and drifting in rural areas. I grew up on the farm and always have a respect for storms that pack a windy punch.
I agree x2 with this statement. One time I had to go work in Williston ND way before the big oil boom, but when it finally was time I could go home everyone told me not to go because of the snow and wind predictions, wait another day before leaving they said. My reaction was Hey I am from MN I know wind and snow. Wow was I wrong, never was in a situation like that before and never hope to be in it again. Saw more accidents and jackknifed trucks in the next 12 hours than the rest of my driving life combined. Had to drive up and over the overpasses because the snow drifted to deep under the bridges to get through.
As far as the resorts go they own the shorline and the property they are on but not the lake itself. They charge a small amount to access to pay for plowing the road and equipment maintenance. I doubt there is much liability on the resorts part on what happens to you once you’re out there based on your own decisions to stay or leave when bad weather may approach. Before things started this weekend most resorts posted on FB a warning on what to expect and when they anticipated they would start plowing.
Wasn’t it last year that two people drowned after driving their 4 wheeler into open water? If I recall it was either Roger’s or JR’s they left from. Don’t know if any legalities were involved after the fact.
Now if you are renting a sleeper house from a resort they may have more responsibility for what happens to you.
In any case I’m sure all resorts carry liability riders on their insurance policy for any lawsuits that may be brought against them for such instances. After all the resorts all have bars and will serve you as much as you care to buy so they are subject to the Dram shop laws.
Well, I have to think that it goes beyond just getting onto the lake … lots of time and money spend keeping roads plowed all winter. It would be interesting to hear from anybody who has first-hand knowledge of the liabilities involved with offering winter road access to lakes. Regardless, it probably has more to do with customer service and reputation. Leave a guy stranded out there and you probably are going to regret it one way or the other.
A resort’s access and road are no different than open water access. It a convenience offered by the resort for a charge. It is, after all, their property one crosses to get to either the ice or the water. Nobody is forcing an idiot to go out on the ice with his own equipment when bad weather is looming. The only people any resort owner is liable for on the ice are those in their own rental units. Beyond that people paying to go out on their own are paying for the use of the access, not a babysitting service.
Having gone through a decent amount of resorts in Northern MN, I think a lot of this in my opinion isn’t really out of any legal obligation or anything, but a lot of these resort owners/staff just being good guys. Don’t get me wrong there are defiantly some bad eggs, but for the most part almost every resort on the big lakes that I’ve been to or heard of have been great and doing all sorts of things to go above and beyond.
The DNR sets the deadline to have permanent houses removed off lakes months and months in advance, literally. Yet so many people wait until the day before to try and remove it. Then they come on here and complain about the laws which have been set months in advance.
Anything they do will result in money in their pockets thru tourism, the whole area will reap benefits from it.
Its more common sense then anything.
If you see a blizzard warning and you come with your new SUV and a 20lb tank of propane and expecting to be waited on hand it foot, its kind of your fault.
Personally be kind of fun to get stuck on the lake if you have the right gear with you.
Well, I have to think that it goes beyond just getting onto the lake … lots of time and money spend keeping roads plowed all winter. It would be interesting to hear from anybody who has first-hand knowledge of the liabilities involved with offering winter road access to lakes. Regardless, it probably has more to do with customer service and reputation. Leave a guy stranded out there and you probably are going to regret it one way or the other.
In civil law all that has to be proven is negligence. If somehow, someway the resort owner does something completely unreasonable and causes you harm, they could be liable for pretty much anything. Here’s an example. If a resort owner pars a huge truck or plows a huge pile of snow in front of your truck and wheelhouse and sinks it, they COULD be liable. You have to prove they did it with gross negligence. Tough to prove but possible.
By simply not plowing roads or coming to rescue some jack wagon that may put themselves in danger would never be considered negligent.
Proving negligence is a thing of the past in today’s super liberal court system.
This is a “guy thing.” You get a chance to go fishing and worry about the rest later. It will all work out. This is America.
Had to cancel a weekend trip that was planned months in advance because of the forecasted weather. Seeing how much snow accumulated in the Grand Rapids area helped justify the decision. Still wasn’t easy making that call, but a hot bite isn’t worth a potential disaster.
It all comes down to people having no accountability for themselves. It’s always someone else’s fault. And it’s across all generations. It’s the world we live in. My buddy’s always make fun of me for over packing for trips. When I grew up my dad always had a full toolbox every time we went on a trip. Also straps and anything else we might need if stuff hit the fan. I’m the same way now. Maybe over prepared, but at least I’m ready.
DT
It all comes down to people having no accountability for themselves. It’s always someone else’s fault. And it’s across all generations. It’s the world we live in. My buddy’s always make fun of me for over packing for trips. When I grew up my dad always had a full toolbox every time we went on a trip. Also straps and anything else we might need if stuff hit the fan. I’m the same way now. Maybe over prepared, but at least I’m ready.
DT
me too!
What I don’t get is…
People who needs to park right up next to you…when there’s an entire lake to park…
People who parks right smack in the middle of the spot right in front of the public access…What is wrong with driving 20-30 feet off to the side?
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