Beginners doing GUE fundamentals?

[chrisch]

don't they tie a rope around the diver to compensate for the fact that ice diving doesn't require actual overhead training?

overhead training teaches you how to make back to the surface via the use of a continuous guideline. i still contend the person who you say is a prick was right..

Recreational ice diving uses a tether line both as a guidance to the exit and as a sort of substitute buddy as you can communicate with the tender on the surface. It is a controversial technique amongst people who have had the advanced training needed for caves and other overhead environment. Most recreational divers accept it as they have nothing else to compare it to.

Some venues will not allow the diver(s) to utilise a reel and line or other methodolody and often will not permit ice diving activities unless the diver(s) have a certification from a recreational body like PADI.

There are many variables that come into play when diving under ice. At one end of the spectrum it can be quite "safe" with a short tethered dive in clear water and just a few minutes duration. At the other end it can be hazardous with the ice simply being another problem (wreck diving the great lakes whilst the surface is frozen for example).

If a diver has had cave training and experience they should mostly be able to work out for themselves what is most likley to be the best techniques provided they take into account the local circumstances. Dogmatic adherence to one technique is generally a sign the person is not thinking about the task. An argument about an hypothetical dive suggests to me neither party knows what they are talking about.