Even the frozen river is far from uniform. This part is fairly smooth (under a thick layer of snow). However, in other places the surface is made up of slabs of ice sticking up at 45° or so, presumably having floated downstream and piled up against each other. Apparently in the spring the piling up of ice in melting rivers can lead to flooding, so sometimes the ice is broken up using explosives.
Incidentally, unlike the lakes we ventured on to at the weekend, I very much doubt that the river-ice is safe to walk on - there is certainly no evidence that anyone has tried, although bearing in mind how hard I found it to get to the bank, it may be lack-of-access rather than self-preservation that has prevented it. So, to answer my own question, whether the river is ice or liquid water the bridges are an essential part of life in the region, and although the views they provide may be hard to capture, they are nevertheless pretty amazing.
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