He should buy a lottery ticket.

Jake Garrow of Kenora was out in a skid steer on Clearwater Bay west of Kenora last Friday, when his machine went through the ice.

"I went down 105 feet," he said, recalling the event.

Most people would have a tough time getting out of the fully-enclosed cab, while fully submerged, but Garrow was determined to survive and he found a way.

"On the way down, I smashed the back window," Garrow continued.

"I got lucky, and I went straight back up," he noted, describing how he managed to find the original hole in the ice.

The wind chill was -34 C, when Garrow crawled out of the icy water and went off to look for help.

"It wasn't too far from the highway. It was only a kilometre, a kilometre and a half from the highway," he recalled, understating the case.

"Somebody I knew turned around, when they saw me walking, and they picked me up. There were about nine cars went by, but nobody would stop," he said, as he underlined how appreciative he was to be back with his family.

Fortunately, Garrow only suffered from a bit of frostbite and a punctured ear drum, and he went back to work with his crews this week.

"Next time, I'll be plowing with the door off, that's for sure," he added.