I had a experience where I fell through the ice. I was muskrat trapping about 6 years ago. I was On the edge of a frozen pond when the bank gave away. I fell into about 10 ft. of freezing water with hip boots on. I was lucky that there was a spot on the bank where i was able to get my grip and get up out of there. It was not fun.

I pored the water out of one of my hip boots, but left it in the other because I had such a hard time getting the one back on. The foot that was in the boot without the water started to freeze while the other stayed relatively warm. The water in the one boot must of acted like a insulation.