Ice Diving - Tips?

[JBFG]

Are you doing the PADI Ice Diver specialty or Dry Suit or other?

Yes it's the PADI Ice Diver specialty.
most of us up north already have our dry suit speciality

 

[JBFG]

Don't prebreathe/purge your 2nd stage out of the water.
I hope you get to do the upside-down thing where you get buoyant against the underside of the ice, kneel hands-and-knees upside-down to the ice, and wait a minute or two for your brain to invert everything. Wild! Especially if you are then pulled by your tether to the hole and you....fall into the sky.

See Ice diving - Wikipedia, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj9-6e2xr3SAhVMSyYKHRgFDkwQFgghMAA&url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/04/travel/escapes/divers-in-a-frozen-world.html&usg=AFQjCNGdigDkR2GSyMYy77GM032JKLN_aw&sig2=yVypZKLO-tDedMu89ZuFOw.

Thanx for that. Yes I hope to get upside down and do an inverted moon walk lol

 

[lowviz]

...//... I hope you get to do the upside-down thing ...//...

@tursiops, Yes. That is what it is all about. Insist on it. ONE diver at a time, demand a refund if they put more than one diver on the tether at a time.

You are paying full fare for ice. No ice, no dive. PADI will ice cert you in cold water. Take a pass on that.

I'm going to do my 1st ice diving in 2 weeks. ...//... Any tips and tricks before I splash?

Yes.

Ice diving is either about ice or an unusually cold dive. You pick, you paid.

All the fun is at the surface where your air lasts forever. First, do as tursiops said. Then relax and go flat against the ice and start to explore. But you can't move...

Call TeamLGS (NOW) and buy two sets of ice awls w/ pouch. The way that they come is two awls connected to each other and one pouch. Won't go into why, but it is different for rec. So you buy two sets and cut the cord as close to one of the awls as possible. Now you have two awls, each with a long cord, two spare awls, and most importantly, two wrist pouches.

See pics, worth two thousand words.

Tell your line tender what you are planning to do. Take your time and explore the ice, it is a trip...

 

[DogDiver]

Ice, chain saws and diving should never be used in the same sentence.

At least when I cave dive I know the hole I went into will stil be there on exit. Lol. Enjoy yourself and dive safe.

 

[JBFG]

Lol it's the Canadian thing to do. If I could just add my fins on top of my hockey skates, I would be in heaven!

That could be the next greatest game, underwater upside down scuba ice hockey

 

[tursiops]

Lol it's the Canadian thing to do. If I could just add my fins on top of my hockey skates, I would be in heaven!

That could be the next greatest game, underwater upside down scuba ice hockey

 

[JBFG]

I can only imagine the goalies lol


Ok so no breathing in your regs before entry. What else?
What's the risk of inflator or dry suit valve freezing?

 

[Stoo]

Lot's of posts here, but not many answers to your question... So tips... (And these all have to do with avoiding freezeups and stuff... not so much the mechanics of how you run the dive. Different Instructors with have their own preferences...)

The main thing is... well, there's a bunch of main things...

1) Do whatever you can to avoid a regulator freeze-up, since this will end your dive...
* Use a cold-water specific regulator, preferably with a sealed first stage
* Have is adjusted to the IP is a little less than spec
* Make sure your air source is "dry" with a low dew point
* Keep your regulators warm and dry... inside over night, possibly in a cooler or wrapped in a blanket until you are ready to mount them
* As mentioned, DO NOT breath them out of the water. A few quick purges while watching your SPG should do it. Same with BC/drysuit inflators... a couple of quick "squirts"

2) Go easy on the buttons...
* The enemy under ice is passing a lot of air across the valves in your regulator. As you know, as the air pressure is reduced as it passes through the two stages of the regulator, it creates a cooling effect... not something you need or want under the ice. Avoid rapid breathing. Avoid long blasts of air into your BC or drysuit... tiny, short blasts is the way to go.
* If you are comfortable doing so, change second stages every once in a while. It's the breathing that causes free-flow. By changing to your Octopus (or second reg if breathing doubles), the other reg will fill with water... and the water, while cold, is above freezing and it will melt any ice that might be forming.
* Be "aware" of what your reg is saying to you. Freeze-ups don't typically "happen" instantly. They begin with the reg bubbling a titch as you finish an inhalation. In some cases, this will continue to increase and then at some point, a full-on free-flow begins. As your instructor will tell you, and demonstrate likely, a free-flow isn't really a huge thing... it's noisy, even a little "violent" as there is a lot of bubbles buffeting your face. But you can simply allow the excess air to slip out the side of your mouth as you hoof it to the hole. (If you are wearing doubles, or diving SM, there is the option to shutdown etc, but I don't think that that's something you will cover in an entry level course like this.)

I think these are the major points to avoid a freeze-up. Keeping yourself warm is a whole other discussion...

Have fun!

Here is a link to some images I made the other day diving under the pack-ice in Tobermory the other day.

Under the Ice - wetspot

 

[rhwestfall]

A week from today...... Argonaut Kraken heading under the ice in Temagami, ON....

I have to drive 6-1/2 hours north to get good ice.

 

[Stoo]

A week from today...... Argonaut Kraken heading under the ice in Temagami, ON....

I have to drive 6-1/2 hours north to get good ice.

Nice... I'd invite you for a cocktail, but sadly, I'll be on my way to Belize. Poor me...