Ice Diving in Colorado

[FuzzyNutz]

I was just sitting here wondering if anyone dives under ice in CO. I've never done it before, but I'm curious about it. If it's available here, it would definately spark my interest in doing an ice specialty course. If you have ever done it, what do you like most about it? Which lakes are good for this (and do you need any special permit?), and can you reccomend a LDS who offers a quality ice course?

On the other hand, what are some of the major hazards and risks of going under the ice (besides obviosuly being in an overhead environment)? Would you reccomend any other pre-requisite training (other than dry-suit) or ways to go about learning to go under ice? Also, what other special equipment is reguired/suggested when ice diving?

 

[knotical]

You can get some of your answers here: Ice diving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You could also contact a dive store that offers ice diving classes. Both dive stores in Colorado Springs (Divers Reef and Underwater Connection) offer ice diving. I think Colorado Scuba Center in Lakewood does too. And there may well be others. Good luck. (brrrr) < No, I don't ice dive. >
Disclosure: I work for one of the shops mentioned.

 

[g2]

I did an ice diving course with A-1 (Englewood) about 10 years ago. It was held over a weekend up at Twin Lakes, near Leadville. I really enjoyed it and would love to do some more.

Whether it's at A-1 or another shop, they may combine it with a drysuit class if you're not already drysuit certified. I would recommend getting drysuit certified regardless, just for the fun of diving all year 'round.

Because ice diving is an overhead environment, the techniques can be considered technical. We didn't go deep or far, but we did use tethers with safety divers and tenders on the surface. The type of gear you use is not so important other than having a complete alternate regulator setup (1st and 2nd) in case of freeze-up. This can be done with either a set of double tanks or a single tank with an H or Y valve.

Caveat: some regulators are more prone to freeze-up than others. This is a subject for another thread and an extended argument.

 

[FuzzyNutz]

Seeing some pictures of water under the ice, the ice itself, and light comming through your entry point just looks amazing. Plus, making bubbles anywhere is just plain fun, so I'd definately want to experience this at least once in my life. Thanks for the great info so far, I'll keep looking into it! Hopefully I'll be able to give it a whirl after the new year - there's some other gear I want to get and a dive trip to Cabo comming up... and I'm broke collge student so I'll see where I'm sitting with funds at that time. I was just curious if ice diving was an option around here and wanted to get that initial spark of interest and give myself something to think about. Thank you for your comments, much appreciated!!

 

[PatW]

As mentioned above, ice diving an overhead environment. It is akin to cave diving or penetrating wrecks. If you get into trouble, you can not just go to the surface. Cave divers tend to go in for redundant everything and methodical planning. One cave diver told me that one has to assume that the first mistake will be fatal. It is not for me.

 

[g2]

PansSiren, you reminded me that regulators can freeze up even when the water isn't freezing temperature. I've been planning on doing some winter diving locally (not necessarily ice diving) and it would be wise to put an H-valve one of my tanks for a second reg.

Gotta be ready to go!

 

[FuzzyNutz]

As mentioned above, ice diving an overhead environment. It is akin to cave diving or penetrating wrecks. If you get into trouble, you can not just go to the surface. Cave divers tend to go in for redundant everything and methodical planning. One cave diver told me that one has to assume that the first mistake will be fatal. It is not for me.

Your last statements are definately thoughts running though my head, but I think that's what makes it more enticing too. I wouldn't ever attempt a more dangerous dive without propper training, gear, or experience/practice. There are some things I'm afraid of though, like cave diving. I'm ok with caverns and cave entries, but I'm not all down for going miles into a cave more than a 100' below or anything like that. I don't think I'd do well in a black/silt out situation or with any sort of cave-in, and I don't think I'll ever risk it. Rebreathers also scare me. A slight failure in it's computer or electronics could mean a pretty quick death without you knowing until it happens (or so I've heard) - so I don't trust the reliability.

Like you said, any situation could be very deadly under ice, but I'm not totally freaked out by the environment, and I'd like to at least try it once, even if the only time I ever do it is for the class (but who know's, maybe I'll fall in love... i dunno?). Or maybe if I like it, it will make me more comfortable with caves as well?

When I see stuff on tv about divers or anything else under the water, I always sit there thinking how awesome it would be to go physically see and experience that for yourself. I want to explore a shipwreck 300 ft below the surface, swim within touching distance of a great white with no chain mail or cage, see parts of underwater caves, and even stuff like playing with seals and dolphins. I feel lucky enough to now be part of this small scuba community, and not many people get to experience any of what we do in general. To do the more challenging stuff is quite a risk, but I think with propper training, the first hand experience is definately worth it.

PansSiren, you reminded me that regulators can freeze up even when the water isn't freezing temperature. I've been planning on doing some winter diving locally (not necessarily ice diving) and it would be wise to put an H-valve one of my tanks for a second reg.

Gotta be ready to go!

Yeah I've heard of some crazy problems with regs freezing up. Like the wet moisture in the air can make a reg freeze as soon as it hits the water. I don't know if that's a fact, but I've read it somewhere. I wasn't aware of H-valves. I like the redundancy of this!

I know you wanted to avoid this topic, but you seem knowledgable about it and I can't help but ask! But is there anything in your opinion that makes one cold water reg better than the other? Or is there anything on a reg that's needed uniquely to ice diving? In about 2 weeks, I'm planning to purchase a set of HOG cold water regs (one 1st stage and two 2nd stages). 1st stage is environmentally sealed and the 2nd stages are metal (with some plastic). Though also seem to have tons of rave reviews for both quality of product and customer service. I find these regs to be fairly similiar to the scubapro mk17/g20v setup, but at quite the fraction of price. Care to share any thoughts?

 

[g2]

I know you wanted to avoid this topic, but you seem knowledgable about it and I can't help but ask! But is there anything in your opinion that makes one cold water reg better than the other? Or is there anything on a reg that's needed uniquely to ice diving?

I'm sure there's lot of other threads on ScubaBoard that discuss this but I'll give you my quickie take on it all...

The number one thing is having a 1st stage that's environmentally-sealed. You don't want cold water to have access to any of the colder innards. IMO, in silty water like we have here in Colorado, an environmentally-sealed reg is a good idea regardless of temperature.

The second stages are particularly prone to freeze-up. And yeah, your breath has moisture that will cause them to freeze and free-flow.

Beyond that you get into areas where reasonable divers may disagree. Many manufacturers make "cold water" regs, but that doesn't mean they won't freeze. Thankfully, the failure mode is almost always free-flow, which is alarming but not nearly so much as having one fail to deliver air entirely.

One more big note about ice diving...

PatW is right that there are serious risks. However, the reality of recreational ice diving classes is that safety comes first, and in some respects it may actually be safer than a typical open-water dive. Let me explain...

1. Many classes are 'light weight'. By that I mean they are supposed to be a fun introduction to ice diving. A competent instructor will not let you get into trouble.

2. You'll probably never go ice diving without an entire team of people planning and participating. The logistics are immense.

3. You never lose sight of the hole. There should be an emergency exit too.

4. You're tethered, and in constant communication (through the tether) with the surface tenders. In an emergency they will literally drag you out.

5. If the tether doesn't work, there is an emergency diver standing-by on the surface ready to rescue you.

To make the most of it, both in terms of comfort and safety, I'd recommend becoming experienced with a drysuit first -- which is a challenge in itself. A lot of people say "Burrrrr!" about ice diving, that only means that either a) they haven't tried it, or b) they have tried it but were wearing insufficient protection. Your lips and cheeks will definitely get cold, but if you're wearing the right protection -- and this is true for any kind of diving -- then you should be fairly comfortable.

Stay warm!