It was a perfect afternoon for snowboarding at the popular Rock Snowpark in Franklin, Wisconsin. Ben Ratka and his wife took advantage of the well-groomed slopes, savoring the fresh air and exercise. Later, however, Ben realized to his horror that his heavy 14k white gold wedding band was missing! It left him feeling sickened in his stomach.
The ring had been fitting loosely of late. Indeed, Ben had been thinking that he really needed to get it resized. Now he was kicking himself for not doing it sooner.
Reflecting back on their time at the snowpark, Ben recalled two occasions when he had removed his gloves to make adjustments on his snowboard. Those locations, he thought, would be good places to begin looking. Fighting a sense of hopelessness Ben suppressed the thought that someone might have spotted the ring on the hardpacked snow surface. He comforted himself thinking, “Maybe the person turned it in to the park’s lost and found.”
After checking with the park’s manager, the ring remained at large. Ben reported it to the local police as well, this in case someone found it and turned it in to the authorities. Then his thoughts turned to renting or purchasing a metal detector. Checking online, that’s when Ben discovered The Ring Finders directory of metal-detecting specialists. Who knew? He found my listing and reached out to me by telephone the next day. After hearing Ben’s story, we agreed to meet on location in Franklin later that afternoon.
The sun was setting when I arrived, triggering the lights on the slopes. The light in turn reflected back up to the darkened sky overhead creating an eerie, enchanted twilight zone. Crowds of skiers, snowboarders and tubers, unaware of Ben’s crisis, created an ebb and flow of cheerful voices, pierced now and then with shrieks of excitement. “What a delightful place to play,” I mused. 
The managers at The Rock Snowpark were cooperative and understanding. They gave permission to search as needed. I followed Ben to one of the locations where he had removed his gloves, a staging area not far from the main office and restaurant. Unlike other areas, the snow was churned up from all the foot traffic. I was glad to see this as it meant the ring could have fallen out of sight and or gotten pushed deeper into the snow after being stepped on. I switched on my XP Deus II metal detector and positioned my headphones.
The electromagnetic interference (EMI) at the location was some of the strongest I’ve encountered in my forty-plus years of metal detecting! EMI happens when the detector picks up erroneous signals from buried underground and or overhead electric cables, cell towers and other electronics in the vicinity. The unmelodious noise can only be described as screeches, squawks and squeals, each competing to be heard above the other. Deciphering a signal from a ring amidst such noise can present a significant challenge to metal detectorists. It was a challenge I now faced.
Thankfully, I was able to draw from past experience and adjust or ‘hush’ the EMI to a level I could tolerate without sacrificing the detector’s sensitivity. I used my own 14k white gold wedding ring in the calibration process.
Barely a few swings of the coil over the target area, I received an unmistakable signal of gold, and in the conductivity range I was looking for. Ben watched closely as I pulled out my pin pointer (a handheld wand that vibrates and sends an audio signal when it gets close to metal) and began to probe into the snow. Barely two minutes into the search, Ben’s ring came up to the light of day! And the smile and look of relief on his face tells the rest of the story.
If you or someone you know has lost a ring or other sentimental jewelry item, whether in snow, grass or underwater, chances are it is still there waiting to be found. Don’t let the story of your ring end. Give me a call today.
