Altitude Diving Cert

[kevincasey]

Hi all,

I was just wondering if there's anybody in the New England area that's teaching altitude diving.

Thanks in advance,
Kevin

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Buy a set of altitude tables. Costs about ten bucks. Not much more you need to know other than allowing yourself to acclimate to the altitude for an hour or so for each thousand feet of elevation to be conservative. And slow down setting up and tearing down. Safety stops will be done shallower in relation to the elevation. Seriously save your money. There is not much to it. Where do you plan on diving at altitude? Not a lot of places in NE to do it.

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[kevincasey]

Buy a set of altitude tables. Costs about ten bucks.

I can save myself the $10 and make my own tables specific for this (or any) lake using Excel. I understand the math behind it, so I'm not worried about that.

I'll be up at Mooselookmeguntic in Maine, elevation 1,467 ft. The actual changes at that elevation and my expected depths (40-60 ft.) are meaningless compared to my air usage.

Is the consensus that the certification is just an expensive repackaging of the algebra?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Pretty much. If you are only going to be at 1400 ft I see no need for the course. Around here dives are routinely done at one location that is 3500 rounded up to 4000. Most of the shops use that as an altititude dive in the AOW course. Which is pretty stupid as all the dives are done at that altitude. Including the students OW checkout dives! I just go over the tables and the math during the table portions of my OW course. No need for a separate course.
Unless you are talking about Rocky Mountain lakes a mile or more up or diving in the Andes the altitude course is not going to do much more than lighten your wallet for something that can be covered in an extra fifteen minutes in the OW class or by reading any number of free resources on altitude diving. IMO.
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