Ellis Recovery

02/05/2026

We are proud to CUT THE ICE for the BRRRmidji Polar Plunge!!! This is our 8th year being a part of this great fundraiser for the Bemidji Special Olympics. As you know we have sold the towing business, and this year we will be representing our ICE RECOVERY business. We hope you stop by to say hi, Lloyd and Harry will be there too -our ice cranes! Come support the awesome jumpers that raised money for this great program.

Are you ready to take the Bemidji Jaycees BRRRmidji Plunge in TWO WEEKS on February 14th? Register soon to jump in Lake Bemidji in the winter to support the Bemidji Special Olympics!

Register at www.bemidjijaycees.com/brrrmidji-plunge or on-site at the event.

12/26/2025

Upper Red Lake
December 21

RECOVERED 💥

https://ellisrecovery.com/

12/26/2025

Upper Red Lake
December 19th

RECOVERED 💥

https://ellisrecovery.com/

12/26/2025

Pike Bay, Cass Lake
ICE RECOVERY
Recovered Dec 19

Be careful when crossing pressure ridges.

https://ellisrecovery.com/

12/12/2025

🚨🚨🚨Our new logo is done 🚨 🚨🚨
Not only did our business change solely to recovery, but our phone number changed too!

Huge thank you to Central Lakes Digital for taking our ideas and photos to create this logo, and for our incredible website they have designed and are continuing to design for us.

Please take a SNEAK PEEK and let us know what you think!

https://ellisrecovery.com/

Also, we would like to give a shout out to Lainie Hiller Photography for quickly getting us some temporary magnets and signs for our equipment.

02/15/2025

01/12/2025

Yesterday morning(1-11-2025) the crew received a call of a truck and fish house that broke through on a large crack on Upper red lake. With little known about the situation they loaded both cranes(Harry and Lloyd) and all the gear they would possibly need and hit the road with lights flashing. When they arrived on scene it was apparent both the house and truck needed to be secured independently before rigging and unhooking. After staging and setup it was time to separate the 2 and extract the truck first. The truck was able to be removed safely and driven away under its own power with minimal damage. It was time to shift focus to the fish house. With one wheel torn completely off from going through and another one flat with no good ice infront or behind the house both cranes were needed strategically placed to lift then rotate the house to come off one side. With great team work comes great success! The house was removed safely and on to safe ice once again. After a quick tire change the owner was able to tow the fish house with the same truck it was attached to back to shore. Please be safe out there everyone. With the temperature swings we have seen this winter the ice is constantly changing. Somewhere you drove just minutes ago can be totally different in a short time. Cracks open quick and without warning. Everyone made it out of this one safely thankfully! That makes #4 for the season. We will post a few pictures from the first 3 we didn't get around to posting.

03/25/2024

On the afternoon of February 19th we got a call of a side by side that fell through on Pokegama Lake by Grand Rapids, MN in very deep water but was being held up by ice. We immediately grabbed what we needed to secure the machine from going down any further and rushed to the scene to secure and assess for the next morning extraction. With a little swim we were able to hook and secure the machine the evening of the 19th and see what we were up against. This was a very odd situation, the dam had been opened up for a few days and water level dropped causing the ice to drop down in an inverted heave versus push up like normal when a heave forms. This posed a problem having to get in the water with the machine and unstable ice knowing how deep the water was at around 72 feet deep. On the morning of the 20th we arrived back at the lake and began hauling equipment out on thin ice. With the way the ice was dropping and cracking wide of the heave we were forced to setup the crane a ways away from the machine to be on stable ice. After hooking the machine to the crane it was time to start bringing it up. As we winched pieces of ice all the way along the heave started popping up like icebergs constantly. This was a very eerie feeling and caused problem with the rest of the ice around the heave. After some time and quick movements the machine was finally on the ice with us and headed to shore. This ice was something we haven't seen in all of our years of recovery. We got all of our gear off the ice and loaded up to head home and get the gear prepped for any future recoveries.

03/20/2024

The evening of February 9th we received a call of a truck through the ice on upper red lake with an ice castle still attached and on the verge of going through as well. Both of us were out of town so early morning of the 10th we rushed home to get our gear and a crew ready to rush up to try to save the house from going through and retrieve the truck. A pressure crack had formed down a road and the ice gave way as the truck drove over. We arrived on scene around 2 in the afternoon with our crew and both cranes and gear. With good ice on one side and ice breaking away on the other side we immediately began setup and rigging of the cranes to secure the fish house and remove it from the truck and water. With the truck secured we detached the fish house and proceeded to lift it and turn it sideways over the water to extract it to the safe ice. By time the fish house was on safe ice and out of harms way the sun was down and it was too dark to safely remove the truck. So immediately in the morning of the 11th we went back out to continue the recovery of the pickup. We were able to hook our big crane to the truck and begin cutting ice within a half hour of being back out. Once the extraction hole was cut open the lift began. With the truck still resting on a large sheet of ice under it holding it against the ice above we were forced to cut a bigger hole than normal. Once the extra ice was cut away we were then able to continue the lift. Once the lift began and the truck was coming up it rotated and we had to winch from the side to turn it the right way to come up. After the truck was straightened back out the lift could finally be finished and the truck brought up onto safe ice successfully. Everyone made it out of the vehicle safely and our recovery crew all made it home safe and sound with truck and fish house in tow.

03/19/2024

Well, it has been a long week for the ice recovery crew. With the long week comes an end, for what we believe, to the ice recovery season. With that being said, it is time for a dump of posts from the last half of recovery season. On January 28th we were called to Lake Winnie to recover a truck that had gone through the ice with a large ice castle attached, which was still up and holding onto the pickup. The day was already half gone when we received the call, so we rushed to get our gear together and head out. When we arrived on the scene, it was evident we needed to immediately secure the fish house and truck, then separate them and get the fish house out of harms way and back to land. By the time the fish house was back to shore and truck secured, the sun was setting. We finished the day by bringing our crane and gear out to be ready to extract the truck the next morning. The morning of the 29th we arrived back on scene and began putting everything into place to begin the lift. The lift was successful and the truck was put topside and brought back to shore. This one is a prime example of no ice is 100% safe. As this was on a plowed road but temperature changes had caused a lot of new cracks in the ice and caused floating pieces where the truck had driven onto and went through. This recovery is one that many people have seen a lot of with the power of tiktok. We shared the video back when this happened and for those of you that haven't seen it we will share the tiktoks from this recovery that weren't made by us but by a family member of the clients. Here are a few pictures of our own of this recovery. Stay tuned for more recovery posts to come.

03/10/2024

We like to support local as much as we can! Thank you for the recognition 💃🏻

Thank you Ellis Towing Recovery and Ice Recovery for your Gold Level Sponsorship of the 2024 First City Dance Competition Team! Your support means so much!

Catch these talented competition dancers perform their numbers for the first time on stage this Thursday, March 14 at 6:30pm!
🎟Tickets available at the door or at First City Dance Studio!✨