History of Altitude Diving

[shurite7]

I find the freshwater systems like Clear Lake fascinating, and wonderful diving.

Dry Suit Dive, Clear Lake_edited-1 by John Ratliff, on Flickr
Clear Lake in the Oregon Cascade Mountains is the headwaters of the McKenzie River, and is at about 3,000 feet elevation. But 4,000 should be used, as the mountain passes are at that elevation for the drive home.

SeaRat

Crater Lake is a lake I’ve always wanted to dive in OR.

So far, I’ve Yellowstone Lake to be one of greatest lakes to dive. There are things to see not found in other lakes.

You mentioned mountain passes. Years ago I drove over a pass a few hours after a trimix dive and my computer (it was in the passenger seat) started beeping. When I dropped back down the other side the beeping stopped and it displayed no fly 49 hours. After that I was more cautious about driving over passes after deep dives. I also did a lot more reading about diving at high elevations.

 

[boulderjohn]

It would be interesting to make this a generic History of Altitude Diving thread by having others contribute nuggets of information, such as Buhlmann's adjustments on his tables for the Swiss military and Jacques Cousteau's expedition to Lake Titicaca.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Here is the rest of the notes I took at the 1974 NAUI Altitude Diving Conference. These include notes from Dr. Richard Bell, U of C at Davis, about "Dive Table Recalculations." It is followed by the Conference Chair, Bob Tolar, talking about the "Concept of the Knife Edge."

SeaRat

 

[tursiops]

It would be interesting to make this a generic History of Altitude Diving thread by having others contribute nuggets of information, such as Buhlmann's adjustments on his tables for the Swiss military and Jacques Cousteau's expedition to Lake Titicaca.

https://watchangels.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BUL_timeline_01LD.pdf has some nuggets in it.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

https://watchangels.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BUL_timeline_01LD.pdf has some nuggets in it.

This link has another link that is broken, called "Exercise Paddington Diamond." Here is that link:

Exercise Paddington Diamond - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The first women to dive in Lake Titicaca?[edit]​

Annie Jean-Alexis in May 1987
On Thursday 7 May 1987 the expedition's Swiss nurse Annie Jean-Alexis made a brief 4 minute dive to a depth of 2m, abandoned for technical reasons. Nevertheless, she was possibly the first woman to dive in Lake Titicaca. Two days later she made a more successful descent to a depth of 3m for 15 minutes.[k]

Also on 9 May two women dived during a visit by the UK Naval Attaché and his staff.[l] As this diplomatic party was not undertaking expedition work dives, the logs for these dives are not reproduced in the published report and the names of the two divers are not recorded there. However, in the unpublished diary of an expedition member it is noted their first names were Sylvia (or Silvia) and Marita.[m] Sylvia/Silvia was a member of the British embassy staff; Marita was a Swedish volunteer worker known to the embassy.

On 17 May Sarah Last, a PR executive from BAOR, made a 15-minute dive to 6.4m during a visit by a media team from the SSVC who had joined the expedition for several days to produce TV and radio news programmes.[n]

Therefore, during Exercise Paddington Diamond at least four women dived with aqualungs in Lake Titicaca and may have been the first four to do so. The Bolivian Navy now trains female military personnel, as well as men, in high altitude diving, equipping them for search and rescue operations in the lake.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

As a result of my attendance to the NAUI High Altitude Diving Conference, I composed and sent my notes and also this letter. The letter went to the Staff Surgeon, Headquarters, Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service (Military Airlift Command), at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. My hope was that the information would be used to make some slight modifications to our Pararescue Operations Manual, ARRSM 55-11. You can see my recommendations in the letter. Unfortunately, I see no evidence in subsequent editions of ARRSM 55-11 that any of these recommendations were actually incorporated. But, it doesn't hurt to try. I was so busy with school and also fulfilling ARRS Pararescue currency requirements that I could not follow up on it, and so I think these were lost.

SeaRat

 

[WeRtheOcean]

Decompression Considerations for Diving at Altitude in Fresh Water,

I don't suppose there was a second volume: for Diving at Altitude in Salt Water.

 

[lowwall]

I don't suppose there was a second volume: for Diving at Altitude in Salt Water.

4,225 m (13,862 ft) high enough?

Pangong Tso - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Closer to home. From You Ain't Seen Nothing | Dive Utah

"Then there's the not so glamorous side which is normally the type of work we get. These are also the most fun (usually) since they pay well, no two jobs are the same and did I mention they pay well? Of course the reason they do is because no one in their right mind would normally want to dive in these places. Some people have occasionally joked with me, where do you dive in Utah? The Great Salt Lake? The Jordan River? Unfortunately yes. Once we had to help rescue a water truck that accidentally rolled into the Jordan River. And we've searched for various lost things in the Great Salt Lake. Nothing like having to dive with 50 pounds of weight to help you sink."

 

[shurite7]

Here is a link to a short article about diving at Pangong Tso Lake.

DIVING AT HIGH ALTITUDE. PRESSURE MEDICINE - A NEW DISCIPLINE? - PMC

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[lowwall]

Here is a link to a short article about diving at Pangong Tso Lake.

DIVING AT HIGH ALTITUDE. PRESSURE MEDICINE - A NEW DISCIPLINE? - PMC

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The full referenced article is attached (the poor quality scan is what is available on the web, I didn't make it). It was quite the expedition.

Having the divers attempt to get used the cold water by having them do surface swims on days prior to the dive with either no protection or just a wetsuit seems a highly questionable practice. Was this once common?