They need to. It is often a matter of life or death to them.
When young ice is encountered which sinks and buckles under the feet at each step, the first precaution is to spread the feet—travel wide—and slide them along as evenly and rapidly as possible without lifting them from the ice.
The Eskimos say that the polar bear does this when stalking seals on thin ice. If this is not enough the next move is to get down on all fours with both hands and feet spread wide apart and then shuffle along without lifting hands or feet from the ice.
When an Eskimo does this in the seal hunt, he usually has his seal-spear in one hand and his lance in the other, both extended on the ice and sliding with the hands.
The distribution of weight resulting from this is very effective.
With the polar explorer two ice lances form a good substitute for the Eskimo spear and lance.
The final position is to lie flat with arms and legs extended and squirm and wiggle slowly along. If two pair of six-foot snowshoes are available to still further increase the bearing area and distribute the weight, it is possible to negotiate surprisingly thin ice.
Bartlett on his remarkable retreat from the crushed and foundered Karluk in Bering Sea, would never have made his astonishing traverse of the more than a hundred miles of thin moving ice in Long Strait between Wrangel Island and the Siberian coast, but for his experience and training with thin ice while with me.
Nor would he have brought his crew to Wrangel Island in safety but for his extended experience with me in negotiating the apparently insuperable pressure ridges of the polar ocean.
The authority for these statements is Bartlett.