Diver death in Lake Minnewanka, Alberta, Canada

[icediver]

Jim,

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the newspaper report. However, doing training with a partially-filled tank is not uncommon up here. The water is very cold, so training dives are kept short. Often you can do two (or more) OW training dives on one AL80.

The water is cold and the vis can be poor, but it is the best vis you can hope for in the area.

The nearest dive shop would be located in Calgary. That is a four-hour round trip from Minnewanka to Calgary, not including filling times, if you need more air. Also, Minnewanka is located in a National Park. Parks Canada often imposes restrictions upon (or outright prohibits) the use of compressors within park limits.

I don't know where you are getting your info from. But there is no Instructor that I know in the Calgary area that takes students in the water with partially filled tanks for their o/w course. Plus in over 12 years of teaching at that site I have never seen any student use a tank for more than one dive. All the shops use al80 for training.

There seems to be a lot of guessing going on. No one knows what type of course it was. So stop playing monday night quarterback.

 

[coldwaterdufus]

I'm with Icediver on this one. I've dove Minne many times, both at the plaque site and the dam site. Yes, its cold and yes the vis can be extremely poor. Worst I've seen it is 2 ft. We went down to 60 ft on the chain at the dam site and straight back up. Didn't let the chain out of my sight. I've also never seen students doing a second dive on a partial Al 80. In my experience, students switch tanks after every dive. The instructors I've seen, on the other hand, keep the same tank for multiple dives for obvious reasons, notably low air consumption.

This is no doubt, a tragedy. We may never know what really happened, but I, for one , don't believe the part about diving with partially full tanks.

 

[khubla]

Just a quick newb question:

What's the normal procedure for cases like this? Is there a coroner's inquest? Would those results or the results of the autopsy be made public? When would we expect that information to become available?

 

[PfcAJ]

Normal procedure is that accident reports are never heard of, and the dive community doesn't learn much (if anything) from the incident.

I would expect this to eventually fade off the radar and we never hear anything conclusive about cause of death (other than drowning) or the events leading up to it.

Its a real shame since the knowledge of what happened could help prevent other incidents from occurring.

 

[Tim_Barker]

As with the rest, I have never heard of a student going down with a partial tank and a student would never be permitted (in my limited experience) to use a tank more than once. The instructor's would always bring enough tanks for the planned dives.

 

[Crush]

As with the rest, I have never heard of a student going down with a partial tank and a student would never be permitted (in my limited experience) to use a tank more than once. The instructor's would always bring enough tanks for the planned dives.

What can I say?! I have seen it happen. Next you will demand names (instructor, shop, or both) and I won't comply in an open forum like SB.

I am glad that you all feel that I must be wrong - this clearly means that the practice is far less common than I was led to believe. I am happy to be wrong about this practice being fairly common. However, you can't tell me that I didn't see what I did see...

 

[darron]

What can I say?! I have seen it happen. Next you will demand names (instructor, shop, or both) and I won't comply in an open forum like SB.

I am glad that you all feel that I must be wrong - this clearly means that the practice is far less common than I was led to believe. I am happy to be wrong about this practice being fairly common. However, you can't tell me that I didn't see what I did see...

In this case - having talked at length with one of the people who was in that class - they were not diving on partial tanks.

I'm not at liberty to discuss any more - but you can leave that accusation out.

 

[jdetmold]

What can I say?! I have seen it happen. Next you will demand names (instructor, shop, or both) and I won't comply in an open forum like SB.

I am glad that you all feel that I must be wrong - this clearly means that the practice is far less common than I was led to believe. I am happy to be wrong about this practice being fairly common. However, you can't tell me that I didn't see what I did see...

I have not been diving long and have seen this from several calgary shops (more than one) on more than a few occasions.

as to it being common or not I dont know, but I have seen this practice as well and have not been diving long so those that say it does not happen should watch more closely perhaps.

 

[Crush]

In this case - having talked at length with one of the people who was in that class - they were not diving on partial tanks.

I'm not at liberty to discuss any more - but you can leave that accusation out.

(Emphasis added)

Is anyone under the assumption that I was making an accusation? My words were "doing training with a partially-filled tank is not uncommon up here" which, while it was predicated upon my observations, seems to be contrary to the experiences of many other AB divers.

 

[Ozzieseahorse]

What can I say?! I have seen it happen. Next you will demand names (instructor, shop, or both) and I won't comply in an open forum like SB.

I am glad that you all feel that I must be wrong - this clearly means that the practice is far less common than I was led to believe. I am happy to be wrong about this practice being fairly common. However, you can't tell me that I didn't see what I did see...

Please do not make any comments like that. Having lived there and dove there and trained there for several years, never...never have I heard, seen, or heard any whisper of practise like that. Please leave speculation out of it. If u dont have all the facts let due course prevail. All I can say is that my support and heart goes out to all involved.