Ice diving

I'm not sure if its considered tek, but since its an overhead, I'll risk posting it here
If anyone has tried it? I'd love to hear about it! There is not much info or discussions on this topic.

I have been thinking about if for a long time now. Its on the "life goals" list.
Now I am getting some new gear, so I want to take ice diving into consideration.
Ok, high preformance reg and octo with anti-freeze function. Anything else?
Is any type of drysuit suitable?
I am used to diving in low 50s, but haven't been at the freezing point yet.

Also, where is the best place to try it? Are there places in Norway or Finland that teach it in English? Of course I'd love to eventually do Arctic or Baikal, but as I understand I need to log 20-25 ice dives first.

Dea once bubbled...
I'm not sure if its considered tek, but since its an overhead, I'll risk posting it here
If anyone has tried it? I'd love to hear about it! There is not much info or discussions on this topic.

I have been thinking about if for a long time now. Its on the "life goals" list.
Now I am getting some new gear, so I want to take ice diving into consideration.
Ok, high preformance reg and octo with anti-freeze function. Anything else?
Is any type of drysuit suitable?
I am used to diving in low 50s, but haven't been at freezing point yet.

Also, where is the best place to try it? Are there places in Norway or Finland that teach it in English? Of course I'd love to eventually do Arctic or Baikal, but as I understand I need to log 20-25 ice dives first.

Click to expand...

Your on the right track with gear, freeze proofing your reg is essential. Wet or dry depends on the diver. I know divers who stay warmer in their wet suits than i do in my dry suit. But in general dry is best. If your diving, wet, in low fifities on a regular basis a dry suit might be a good purchase.

Site set up is everthing for ice diving comfort. We set up a heated tent for after dive warm-up. Provide heated water for wet suit priming and setup custom first layer shirts with heat packs on kidneys for dry suit divers. Done right it can be pretty comfortable diving, but a lot of work prepping to dive safely. So much work that it does not get done often here.

I recommend you DO NOT dive with anyone not using harnesses, lines & tenders. This way a realtime signaling system can be set up so if you don't respond for any reason, you get pulled back to the hole. We usually use one tug by tender, to be responded to by diver with two tugs. Three tugs gets you pulled back to the hole asap. IMHO it's the only safe way to assure you'll find the hole every time. We also shovel or chisel distance and directional markers in the snow/ice. A wagon wheel, the rim of the wheel just inside the max distance of your line, arrows on the spokes of the wheel pointing back toward the hole.

Done this way, ice diving can be safer than reqular OW diving because you are on a line & being actively tended by surface support. And when is the last time you have seen an arrow pointing to your desired exit point in open water?

Welcome, join the ranks with the rest of us underwater, waterskiers!

I agree with all Gedunk's recommendations.

I have NOT seen anyone ice diving wet. Guess we're all too soft for that. I have not had to use heat packs. Polypro underwear and my Andies over that have been sufficient, but, then, everyone's thermostat is a little different.

I don't know where you are in NY, but I can't imagine that there isn't someone on the board who lives near you and can hook you up with a group.

BTW, night ice diving is great, too.

I agree with you about diving the arctic. I think that would really be wonderful diving.

No, I was not going to ice dive in a wetsuit!
I am looking around for a nicely priced drysuit and I was just wondering if any type of drysuit would do. (as long as its dry)
Yeah, I imagine 7mm neophrene drysuit would be warmer, but it would not be much fun to dive the rest of the year in.

So, you guys have done it!
How does it feel the first moment you get iced water in your ears? It is a "favorite" part of my cold water diving. Works better than coffe. LOL
And I imagine there is a big difference between 50 and 35!

Gedunk, it sounds like a lot of work, but rewarding work.
It looks like rather challenging diving and holds a lot of appeal.
I hope to try it this year, and it would be great to try it somewhere exotic.

I'll most likely be in China by the end of December, so I could get to Russia and to Baikal quite easily from there, but at in the middle of winter it is way out of my league.

December to May, the lake is covered with a thick layer of ice which can attain 10 meters.

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thats around 33 ft thick.

And its 5,370 deep(that part is of course irrelevant, but still impressive )

So I will look for another location. But I still would hope it to be something more unusual and mysterious than an upstate NY lake. (all of us have our little quarks )

Lakesdiver, here's arctic diving pics for ya
http://www.deeprapture.com/polardream/

and a lake
http://www.deeprapture.com/baikal/

ut:

And it's very safe, as long as the divers are tethered. But talk about a lot of work for a 20-30 minute dive. But, IMHO, worth every bit of it for the rush.

Any drysuit will work, I think a shell type is best, because you can add (layer) more underwear for additional warmth. Whatever reg you get, the first stage should be environmentally sealed. You really should take an ice diving class.

If you're into adventure settings, check out these guys:Mad Dog

Joe

Dea once bubbled...
I am looking around for a nicely priced drysuit and I was just wondering if any type of drysuit would do. (as long as its dry)
Yeah, I imagine 7mm neophrene drysuit would be warmer, but it would not be much fun to dive the rest of the year in.

So, you guys have done it!
How does it feel the first moment you get iced water in your ears? It is a "favorite" part of my cold water diving. Works better than coffe. LOL

Click to expand...

I use a Viking x-treme, low priced, pretty sturdy. I've not been cold in it.

Well, the first moment is a wake-up, but if the rest of you is warm, it's really only momentary.

Thanks for the links! Cool shots.

Like Joe said, Mad Dog Expeditions will take you to Baffin island. But the price will make you gasp more than 35 degree water!

Russia sound great but unless they have a group you can dive with, that you can verify their safety procedures, i would suggest you search for a good LDS or group in your area first. I've heard some horror stories, not about diving, about how backward it can be in Russia.

Have a friend of a friend who is married a Russian. He went there last year to meet the family. A planned weeks vaction to meet the parents turned into four days hassling with immigration officials. Many greased palms & tears later they finally got to spend a day or two with the parents but not the whole family.
By the way this guy works for the DOJ & knows what he is suppose to do to get in & out of other countries. It did not make a difference for him.

Sounds like a great trip, but just make sure you dot your i's & cross your t's if you go. Russia is a far stones throw from the US of A in treating people right.

As for ice diving, i agree with lakesdiver, the first moment can be a shock. But as Col. Klink said, we have ways ....
The older you get, the more you wuss out. I ice dive with a full face AGA mask and a Viking Pro. My face never gets wet, what a wuss huh? My problem is usually my hands. Everthing else is toasty warm but my hands will be cold. Have tried wet & dry mitts & gloves & the dry gloves work best for me with air tubes running under my wrist seals. This allows me to let warmer air into the dry gloves. You just have to make sure to make a fist so you don't blow your dry gloves off, experience talking here.

By the way your handle doesn't happen to have anything to do with a dept in the DOJ does it? I have a friend who works for that dept in the Denver office.

Here's a cool link that describes different aspects and techniques of the whole ice diving setup, including different types of shelters: Shelters

The guy who wrote it (screen name Lepomis) is Jim Grier. He also writes the Fargo-Moorehead Dive News: http://home.earthlink.net/~fmdivenews/fmdivenews.shtml

Sorry, the first try at the link wouldn't work. Try copy and paste.

Joe

Good link for ice diving. These guys are serious! We thought we were doing something special putting up a warming tent

Ice diving man I love it!

Its one of those aspects of diving that most people who have done it only do it to say they have been there and got the t-shirt. THe water is incredible under the ice. We have alsways used a tent with some pallets and cord matting. I have done it in a 6mm wetsuit and it really was not that bad. You should use a harness under the BCD be it a strap type or a swiss seat. The rope and your tender are the safety line back to the surface. I challenge many of my cave buddies to give it a try and they have yet to accept. You can do well in a drysuit but if you only have a wetsuit then pre heat the suit. Make sure that you have ice picks as part of your kit, these help when you want to exit the water. Well that and your dive tender. We also have a heater in the tent off the floor to keep the surface guys comfortable, sometimes they ice fish before the divers get into the water, always keep a safety diver ready to go and a warm drink is good following the dive. I teach Ice diving. Let me back up I use to teach ice diving before I moved down south to Florida but I can assure you that if given the chance I would come back up north just for that and some down hill skiing when winter comes. Ice diving is very much a form of tek diving and very logistical heavy. But man it is awesome.