High Mountain Lakes

[odysseus]

Hello,

I'm about to move back from CA to NM, and I'm interested in diving some of the mountain lakes in the Sangre de Cristo range. These aren't your normal lakes; they're at ~11,000 ft elevation, and are typically about five miles from a road. This presents some interesting challenges: hiking your gear in, extreme altitude diving, etc. I'm pretty much square on the altitude part of it all (read the books, did some tables, computer does automatic adjustment, etc.), but does anyone have any other ideas/concerns I haven't thought of? Has anyone ever *done* this? Particularly, I'm wondering about transporting gear... any ideas?

 

[Desert_Diver]

Hello,

I'm about to move back from CA to NM, and I'm interested in diving some of the mountain lakes in the Sangre de Cristo range. These aren't your normal lakes; they're at ~11,000 ft elevation, and are typically about five miles from a road. This presents some interesting challenges: hiking your gear in, extreme altitude diving, etc. I'm pretty much square on the altitude part of it all (read the books, did some tables, computer does automatic adjustment, etc.), but does anyone have any other ideas/concerns I haven't thought of? Has anyone ever *done* this? Particularly, I'm wondering about transporting gear... any ideas?

You might want to double check, but I seem to recall that when a cub scout was lost in the High Uinta Mountains a couple of years ago, the sherrif's dive team had to have special dive table calculated for the altitude of a lake they were going to search. I believe the lake was about 10,000 feet.

Art

 

[ChrisA]

... dive team had to have special dive table calculated for the altitude of a lake they were going to search. I believe the lake was about 10,000 feet.
Art

Yes of course that's true. When you come up to the surface you ar not comming up to 1 ATM pressure. There is less presure at the surface. So you either need a "correction", precomputed tables or a computer that does it all for you. But this is all covered in an altitute diving class and in books, He says he understands this part of it.

I would think you have some other issues..

1) That lake is going to be "way cold" I assume you'd need a dry suit. For most people a 7mm wetsuit. High mountain lakes can be near freezing. You will need a lot of weight to sink those thick ecposure suits

2) five mile up hill with gear is a long walk. Such exercise before a dive is not good nor is it good after the dive before you have off gassesd.

30 Why not try improvised weights? Find rocks at the lake or possably use sand. I would not want to hike 25 pounds of lead up a five mile hill. It's going to be a long day

What a lot of work! What could be in the lake that is worth all the effort

 

[odysseus]

Improvised weights is a good idea.

I was thinking of "staging" my equipment... making multiple treks.

Also, I think I can get a couple "dive sherpas" that will be surface support/gear carriers for my buddy and I. They're non-divers that just like to hike.

The 7mm suit is no big deal - Monterey diving uses them too. But yeah, the weight is an issue.

So far the idea is that this is a three-day expedition: one day getting in/resting, one day diving, one day packing out. That way we're not exercising too much on dive day.

As for what's in there... who knows? Maybe old Native American stuff, maybe Spanish stuff. Maybe nothing. But it'd be a novel dive, one that's probably never ever been done before. I guess it's one of those "Because it's there" dives. Also, the water's pretty exceptionally clear.

 

[altitudemike]

I dive at altitude all the time in the rocky mountains of Banff, Alberta, so I may be some help. You should have proper altitude training from a pro first. Your ascent has to be super slow & you should camp overnight before you dive because there is not much info about residual effects of lower atmospheric pressure on the body out there for dives over 10,000 ft. figuring out the right pressure group would be key. A 7mm wetsuit would not be enough as mountain lake water can drop to 38*F or colder at depth. I have tried it. Adry suit would be a must or go farmer john 7mm so you have 14mm across the core. So camp out the night before & make small light load trips to the dive site. Mountains are a beautiful dive & hope you like it.

 

[airsix]

Also, don't base your insulation choices on just surface temp alone. Expect a significant thermocline. What you are doing sounds exciting. I wanted to do something similar when I was a teen but ended up just snorkeling (in my drysuit) because of the complications of getting the rest of the equipment hiked deep into a wilderness area. Good luck & keep us posted.

-Ben M.

 

[Walt1957]

Don't forget scarcity of rescue ops in an isolated area like that, make sure you have a way to contact what ones ARE available in case of an emergency because time will be even more critical since they will not be a short drive away.

 

[Sano]

Let me preface my post by saying that the below is part of a means to an end. My real goal is to dive in a high altitude lake a couple of states away.

O wrote, “As for what's in there... who knows…But it'd be a novel dive, one that's probably never ever been done before.”

I understand this sentiment.

A friend and I have started looking for lakes in Alabama above 1000ft. Our goal is to prepare (read play) for our altitude trip. We have been lucky to find a couple of local lakes that meet our needs but they are well hidden back up in them-there hills. We have also coordinated our efforts with a LDS to help with training.

We started by wasting a day making a couple of dry runs up to the lakes to just see what we could see. This quickly (without me hauling anything up those mountain trails) eliminated a couple of possible lakes and showed us a couple of items of interest.

We quickly determined that emergency communications and evacuation should be our number one consideration. Not only knowing how to get out but knowing where best to locally go.

We also contacted the “agency” with jurisdiction over the lakes. We not only got their blessing but we were able to get some useful information (like where and when hunters could be found). We have also printed out all of our correspondence with these agencies to take with us. We do not want to encounter a ranger (or local) that thinks diving is not allowed.

We have also concluded that we want someone out of the water watching us. Mostly because diving is not common up in those lakes. We are not sure the local fishermen will not think the diver-down flag is just a joke or someone’s trout line.

Planning (read playing) for these local dives has helped us collect a lot of good information to use on our altitude trip. They may not be too sexy but our hope is that they will make our desired altitude dives better.

 

[odysseus]

In case it needs to be repeated: anyone else considering this should DEFINITELY talk to local search and rescue teams. My introduction to the alpine lakes actually came from wilderness SAR in the first place (though we've never done a rescue from the lakes per se). They'll have lots of references, and might even come with you as a day hike. Members of the team are the aforementioned possible dive sherpas/surface support.

Dry runs with a snorkel is a good idea. There are three or four lakes I'd thought about... it'd be nice to take some temperature readings and stick my face in to look at clarity/terrain/etc.