You can walk and even fish on 2" of ice. Ice fishermen will even carry long iron bars to test ice thickness early in the winter. 8 or 10 or 12" of ice is not just going to 'crack open'. Yes the sounds are scary. But - the riskiest times are early ice, late ice, ice near moving water/current, and bad condition ice. Think of an ice cube - that type of ice is called blue ice and is very very strong. You will not fall through 2 inches of blue ice. But there is also white/crumbly ice...crusty ice...this isn't very strong stuff at all. When in doubt take an ice chisel/spud bar out to check the ice in front of you!!
You can walk and even fish on 2" of ice. Ice fishermen will even carry long iron bars to test ice thickness early in the winter. 8 or 10 or 12" of ice is not just going to 'crack open'. Yes the sounds are scary. But - the riskiest times are early ice, late ice, ice near moving water/current, and bad condition ice. Think of an ice cube - that type of ice is called blue ice and is very very strong. You will not fall through 2 inches of blue ice. But there is also white/crumbly ice...crusty ice...this isn't very strong stuff at all. When in doubt take an ice chisel/spud bar out to check the ice in front of you!!