BC Dive Site--Lake of the Hanging Glacier

[BlackPatch]

Hello Boys and Girls.....

Requesting Diving Info (Depths, Vis, etc) on the following site (I am in contact with Parks Canada to see if this is actually diveable)


Objective:
Dive lake of the hanging Glacier in the safest possible manner (Require 3rd party info so not going totally blind)

Site:
Lake of the Hanging Glacier.

Location:
TH @ 50km West, Radium Town Site.
Lake @ Grids: Duncan Lake 82K7. 1:50'000 Scale Map.

Have walked the route to the lake during Sept 2011.

Google brings up NO details I can find for diving in the lake.

PM me with Details if you know anything.


Thanks for looking.

 

[DaleC]

No real idea but looking at the last few photo's from this blog site suggests the lake is quite opaque with glacial silt. Vis may not be that good.

Barbara Martin: Hiking Trails - Lake of the Hanging Glacier

 

[parowlands]

I was in the area climbing last summer (August 2012). At that time the footbridge over the Horsethief River was washed out several kms below the lake, making access to the lake extremely challenging if not impossible; the river is NOT easily crossable on foot in the summer, especially if loaded with dive gear; think raging fast, waist deep and cold, current strong enough to be moving rocks along the bottom. There was a sign on the access road a few kms past Radium indicating that the bridge was out to save folks the long drive back to the trailhead only to find they couldn't go any farther. No idea if there are any plans to re-build the bridge, but from the state of other roads and trails in the area I wouldn't count on it; best to inquire locally before heading back in there with all your gear.

As well, as the previous poster noted, the lake is supplied by glacial melt-off so it's full of silt; looks a bit like pea soup; I'd guess visibility would be no more than a few feet at best. If you've seen Lake Louise or any of the other "turquoise" lakes along the Banff-Jasper highway, that's what Lake of the Hanging Glaciers is like.

 

[DaleC]

I stopped at L. Louise on my dive trip to Minnie a few years ago thinking it would be great to dive in such a historically situated lake... not. I guesstimated 6" vis at best.

A local lake down here (Harrison) used to have fair vis but a major landslide upsteam of it created a silt out that has lasted a couple of years now. I did a camera recovery dive last summer in 2' vis.

Nice to hear about someone wanting to do remote dives though.