Two men lost their lives Saturday after the side-by-side UTV they were in fell through a patch of thinice on Glendo Reservoir in Platte County, Wyoming.
The Platte County Sheriff’s Office received a report at 9:56 a.m. Saturday of a utility vehicle that fell through the ice near the Marina Boat Ramp. Multiple agencies responded, including the Platte and Albany county sheriff’s offices, the Glendo Volunteer Fire Department and EMS, Wyoming Park Rangers, Wyoming Highway Patrol, Camp Guernsey Fire and Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the PCSO reports.
The Albany County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team arrived at 5 p.m. Saturday to assess the situation and plan a dive to recover the victims and vehicle. However, falling temperatures and lack of light suspended recovery operations until Sunday morning.
“We immediately started our recovery process Sunday morning,” Glendo Volunteer Fire Department Chief Dave Noyce told Cowboy State Daily. “We recovered the vehicle around 4 p.m. Sunday.”
The Platte County Coroner's Office has identified the victims and their families have been informed. One of the victims was Beulah resident Bill Pridgeon, 71, which Cowboy State Daily confirmed via his brother, Hank Pridgeon.
“Those first responders are heroes,” Hank said. “Thank you for your service in the bitter cold.”
Cowboy State Daily was unable to verify the identity of the second victim. Neither the Platte County Sheriff’s Office nor the coroner’s office were available at the time of publication.
Prevalent Pockets
The side-by-side fell through a pocket of ice only 4 inches thick, Noyce said, adding that oscillations in temperature have made the surface of Glendo Lake “very deceptive.”
“The warm weather we had a week ago thinned the ice in places, and then it refroze,” he said. “A lot of the ice, including the area where we were working, was 10 to 12 inches thick. The vehicle went through a pocket of thin ice, which are very prevalent around Glendo, especially close to the shore edges.”
After assessing the area, the Platte County Sheriff’s Office said the ice near the breakthrough was near a “pressure break with 4 to 8 inches of broken ice,” which complicated the recovery efforts.
People are strongly encouraged to avoid the Marina Boat Ramp, Shelter Point and the Marina Boat Dock on Glendo Reservoir. In addition to the variable ice thickness, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office said that “a large channel was cut during this operation,” making the ice even more dangerous.
“We urge the public to exercise extreme caution when traveling on frozen bodies of water, as ice conditions can be unpredictable and dangerous,” the Albany County Sheriff’s Office says in a Sunday statement.
Noyce agreed, saying that Glendo Reservoir isn’t safe for winter recreation at the moment.
“You can’t assume the ice is uniformly thick on a body of water like that,” he said.
Contact Andrew Rossi at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com
A multi-agency rescue effort was launched Saturday and continued Sunday to recover an ATV with two people inside that had broken through the ice of Glendo Reservoir. (Albany County Sheriff's Office via Facebook) 
A multi-agency rescue effort was launched Saturday and continued Sunday to recover an ATV with two people inside that had broken through the ice of Glendo Reservoir. (Albany County Sheriff's Office via Facebook) 
A multi-agency rescue effort was launched Saturday and continued Sunday to recover an ATV with two people inside that had broken through the ice of Glendo Reservoir. (Albany County Sheriff's Office via Facebook) 
A multi-agency rescue effort was launched Saturday and continued Sunday to recover an ATV with two people inside that had broken through the ice of Glendo Reservoir. (Albany County Sheriff's Office via Facebook)
