Driving to altitude after diving...

[sharkmasterbc]

Wondering if there is any data on driving to altitude after diving ??

I ask because this last weekend I did multi dives on sunday (none deeper than 40 ft) and then monday morning I drove up to Whistler Mountain for a day of skiing. I was finished diving at noon on sunday and was at about 5000 ft the next morning at 7:00am. I dive with vytec in gauge mode and the little "no fly" symbol had dissapered around 1:00 am monday morning.

I had no symtoms and felt normal all day but was just wondering if there had been any studys done. I figure that it would be diff than flying due to the slow ascent rate (it's not like you can drive straight to 600 ft in a couple minutes)

 

[erubic]

I also would like to know the answer to this, seeing as how i dove this weekend and drove back home. (home is over 5000ft above sea level.) sometimes we dive sat 2-tanks around 60ft and sun the same, and then drive home sunday only a couple hours after getting out of the water. A friend of mine (and others) does this quite often? is there any danger to this? I just noticed that my dive computer now changed(to altitude setting), and says my time to desaturation from sun is now 7h 24min. when sunday it said only 24 hours to desaturation? why? i figured i would have allready desaturated in the last 50 hours??

dive sunday:1st 55ft.45min
2nd 54ft 44 min. both with saftey stop of 3 or more min.
all day mon at sea level. tuesday started my accent about 10:00am to 2000 ft for 4 hours. than I started driving to about 5-6000ft at 2:00.

I have not taken my altitude class yet so excuse me if this will be covered or has been covered before.

thanks,
Eric

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Wondering if there is any data on driving to altitude after diving ??

I lived on Oahu for several years and dived almost every day to 120fsw for 20-30 min dives. The dives were near Waikiki..I lived on the windward side of Oahu & had to drive over the mountain every day to get home. usually after a 3-5 hour SI.

I asked the hyperbaric physician at the local chamber about this. He told me its ok to drive over the mountain..but not to stop up on top.

 

[Rick Inman]

You might do a search on this. It has been discussed quite a bit. I did some asking around about driving from Puget Sound over Snoqualmie Pass (2900') after diving and got a verity of answers. The local dive shop owners all "dive 'n drive" on a regular basis. However, there was a local guy who got bent doing just that a couple of years ago, so, as with all gas science, there are no absolutes. I called DAN, and they said, basically, have a long lunch and drink lots of water.

 

[SA-Diver]

A lot of South Africans regularly drive down to the coast from Johannesburg area (about 4500'), do between three and five dives (40' - 100'), including a dive early on the Sunday morning, driving back over a mountain pass after lunch. I have not heard of anybody getting bent because of this - and there are likely to be a hundred or more divers doing this each weekend.

Maybe the fact that it is a six hour +drive has someting to do with this.

 

[Diver0001]

Wondering if there is any data on driving to altitude after diving ??

I ask because this last weekend I did multi dives on sunday (none deeper than 40 ft) and then monday morning I drove up to Whistler Mountain for a day of skiing. I was finished diving at noon on sunday and was at about 5000 ft the next morning at 7:00am. I dive with vytec in gauge mode and the little "no fly" symbol had dissapered around 1:00 am monday morning.

I had no symtoms and felt normal all day but was just wondering if there had been any studys done. I figure that it would be diff than flying due to the slow ascent rate (it's not like you can drive straight to 600 ft in a couple minutes)

There's even a table for it. You can find it in the US Navy diver's handbook. Look around in the section about ascending to altitude after diving. The table is listed in feet and the group designations are related to the Navy tables IIRC so you'll have to do some puzzle and translation work to get it in any kind of useable form.

R..

 

[XJae]

I don't know the answer to your question,
but, something to think about if you're following your no fly times.

The cabin pressure of a commercial air line is approximately
the equivalent of being at an altitude of 8,000 feet.

So, if you were on Whistler at 5,000 feet 6 hours after your
no fly time expired I would assume you were pretty safe.

 

[pasley]

It is, I suppose, possible to get bent from driving up the mountain (been there, done that). I would not recommend diving and then immediately going up the mountain. It would IMHO be wise to wait several hours after diving before ascending up the mountain, particularly after repetive dives or deep dives and especially both. As someone else said, there is a dive table on it.

I would imagine it is safer to drive up a mountain than flying as the assent is slower giving the gas bubbles more time to work out.

I got bent two years ago. I did a couple of dives (40 FSW, 1hr SI, 20 FSW) and then two days later I drove to a town 1,400 feet in elevation. It became quite clear that I was bent the higher I got. The pain got better as I returned home to sea level. Did the moutain cause the bend? No I don't think so. I think I was bent before I went up the mountain, and not really noticing the very minor discomfort. But the mountain made the situation worse and removed any doubt. Two rides in the chamber in Long Beach CA.

In another situation, the husband of one of the people I dive with had to spend a week at a sea side motel because they live in the mountains in Southern California. Every time he tried to go home he got symptomatic. Now the whole story is that he hs been bent before years ago. He then went diving again after several years of not diving and got bent in a situation that should have been fine. So clearly he is very susceptible to the bends. Then after treatment for DCI, he tried to drive home and when he started up the mountain he had to turn around as he became symptomatic. So this is not your normal situation by any means. But does illistrate that the mountain can cause the symptoms to appear.

Bottom line, after the last dive, relax and have dinner and kill several hours, then don't try to set any land speed records driving up the mountain, or better yet, spend the night if possible.

Not a doctor or even a sane person. This is not medical advice or even good advice, just my opinion.

 

[GDI]

Do a search on this. I believe DAN (don't quote me here) considers the effects of driving to altitude similar to flying after diving. Of course in flying your ascent is much more rapid and you are pressurized in a commercial airliner to about 8-10K ft. Driving would have a much slower rise in altitude rate. It might be best to look at it in a similar context. I use to live in B.C. and would drive home up the mountainside after a dive trip but that trip would take 1-2 hours and I never had any problems.

 

[jplacson]

How many hours is considered safe? I did my first mild deco dive today (100' - 28 min, 1 min stop at 20' on 50%EAN, then a 3 min stop at 15' still on 50%EAN) and had a 5 hour SIT before driving home. The drive home goes over a mountain about 1800'.