The Chukchi Sea freezes in winter, and the ice, in theory, provides a surface that can be walked across. The distance to Siberia — approximately ninety miles — is not, in theory, an impossible journey for people who are prepared and equipped. Fred Maurer had survived the Karluk disaster and understood, from direct experience, what Arctic conditions could demand. The men who decided to walk were not reckless; they were making a calculation in a situation where the alternatives were also dangerous.
What the calculation missed, or underestimated, was the specific character of the sea ice in that region at that time. Arctic sea ice is not a uniform solid surface. It is a dynamic, shifting, fracturing, pressure-ridged environment that moves with the currents and the wind. The ice that looked walkable from one angle might be open water from another, or might have moved overnight, or might fracture under weight at a point that appeared stable. Navigation across sea ice requires specific skills and specific equipment that the three men may not have had in adequate measure.
They left on January 28, 1923. They were never found.
Subsequent searches found no trace of the three men — no camp, no equipment, no remains. The Chukchi Sea took them, in whatever way it took them, completely.
Ada was not part of the decision, or not primarily. She was left on the island, with Knight, because Knight could not walk and because someone needed to care for him. Whether she would have chosen to go if given the choice is one of the questions the record does not answer. What is recorded is that she stayed, and that she kept working.