Solo diver found at bottom of Alberta lake - Canada

[nadwidny]

I recall reading a post by someone that had somehow gotten stuck in a certain type of mud after descending into the bottom and found them self in sticky quicksand with zero viz.
They managed to avoid panic and work themself free but it wasn't easy.
I forget the circumstances that cause that type of bottom.

The bottoms here in Alberta prairie lakes are pretty much all the same. We call it Loon S**t. I don't know what the official scientific name is but the bottom is more fluid than solid for a few feet. It's seems to be more organic than mineral in composition is my guess why

As far as recovery the easy way is just to put a line around the lower unit with a small marker float and then drag it up from the surface boat.

It was never said in the news report whether or not they found the motor and were trying to raise it but by reading between the lines, I believe that they hadn't found the missing motor so recovery efforts weren't a contributor to the incident.

 

[nadwidny]

So this wasn't just diving, but a salvage and recovery? Usually those need special trading, lift bags, God knows what else, but definitely two, trained people. I am so sorry for his family.

Depends on the size of the motor. However going by the news report the motor wasn't found and so difficulties during recovery weren't a contributing factor to the death.

 

[arcticat99]

The bottoms here in Alberta prairie lakes are pretty much all the same. We call it Loon S**t. I don't know what the official scientific name is but the bottom is more fluid than solid for a few feet. It's more organic than mineral in composition is my guess.



It was never said in the news report whether or not they found the motor and were trying to raise it but by reading between the lines, I believe that they hadn't found the missing motor so recovery efforts weren't a contributor to the incident.

same here in Sask .i hunt geese here as well and even walking in sloughs gets difficult you are knee deep in **** and hard to move around just dove lake Diefenbaker last weekenmd and very silty bottom at 20 ft deep visibility is very poor once stirred up

 

[nadwidny]

same here in Sask .i hunt geese here as well and even walking in sloughs gets difficult you are knee deep in **** and hard to move around just dove lake Diefenbaker last weekenmd and very silty bottom at 20 ft deep visibility is very poor once stirred up

My guess is that your experience with the sloughs is more like the bottom of Island Lake. Diefenbaker has only 50ish years to lay down its' base whereas most other bodies of water in the Prairies have had a few thousand years to set up their bottoms.

 

[Jared0425]

In my experience, the muck is soft and does not have much suction unless you have weight on it. We did a body recovery in a natural lake where we had to dip into the "bottom" by 3-4ft. We had a good location and located him within an hour. If we had to search the whole lake he would have ended up floating a few days later. The bottom was so soft that you could take a bottle cap and watch it sink into the stuff. On land where you had your full weight, it was a pain to walk.

In my opinion this could be a medical event if he was overworking himself or got panicked.

 

[JBFG]

I just sank a few poles in Clear Lake (near Wainwright, AB) this weekend for a new teaching platform. Without any efforts, the poles went in 6 feet deep. so yeah very soft bottoms here and I can see how it could swallow you if you drop down fast

 

[nadwidny]

I heard today that the recovery team was from the Calgary Fire Department. Thank to them for their help in this.

 

[The Chairman]

There's nothing down there worth dying for. Not enough people call the dive before the dive calls them.