We were in the midst of a 4 day dive trip at Rock Lake in New Mexico, the only real tech diving site in the southern Rocky Mountains. The first two days had gone well, with dives in the 260-270 foot range. I was able to finish two trimix students on those dives. We had two more days of diving ahead of us, and with no students, we could do whatever we wanted. We wanted those dives to to be great ones, because the owner is selling off the property, and the word is the people buying it will not allow diving. We wanted our last dives there to be the best possible, and we had the gas we needed for it.
We arrived with the temperature a balmy 58° with barely a cloud in the sky. There was a very big wind, brutal in fact, but there is a tin shed for shelter as we dress, so we just had to put up with it while setting up our gear. As we were setting up, we saw gray clouds on the horizon. They were moving in fast. We then felt an instant drop in temperature. Tiny ice pellets began to assault us in the wind, and we began to move our gear into the shed. I wear Converse All Star sneakers with my dry suit, and they were still damp from the day before. When I picked them up to put them into the shed, they were frozen solid. A temperature check later showed we were at 16°, a 42° drop in a matter of minutes, and the wind was still whipping.
None of this was predicted, so we assumed it was a freak storm blowing through and continued to set up until we realized how very cold we were. The ice pellets turned to a real snow storm. The wind died a bit, but it shifted directions enough to blow the snow into the shed. Before long everything was covered with snow, our gear was frozen, and we could not even finish putting our regulators on our tanks because of the ice buildup. We called it.
So I am in the motel room tying. Maybe it will clear up and get warmer. If not, I'm afraid that is the end of this trip.
We arrived with the temperature a balmy 58° with barely a cloud in the sky. There was a very big wind, brutal in fact, but there is a tin shed for shelter as we dress, so we just had to put up with it while setting up our gear. As we were setting up, we saw gray clouds on the horizon. They were moving in fast. We then felt an instant drop in temperature. Tiny ice pellets began to assault us in the wind, and we began to move our gear into the shed. I wear Converse All Star sneakers with my dry suit, and they were still damp from the day before. When I picked them up to put them into the shed, they were frozen solid. A temperature check later showed we were at 16°, a 42° drop in a matter of minutes, and the wind was still whipping.
None of this was predicted, so we assumed it was a freak storm blowing through and continued to set up until we realized how very cold we were. The ice pellets turned to a real snow storm. The wind died a bit, but it shifted directions enough to blow the snow into the shed. Before long everything was covered with snow, our gear was frozen, and we could not even finish putting our regulators on our tanks because of the ice buildup. We called it.
So I am in the motel room tying. Maybe it will clear up and get warmer. If not, I'm afraid that is the end of this trip.
