Ice diving season opener

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SleepySlipper

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
196
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173
Location
MN
# of dives
None - Not Certified
I gave the PADI Ice Diver specialty a try, partly out of winter bordom and also as a small gift to myself for the new year. Although I picked up a few tips and tricks to get a bit more comfortable being under ice, I will not be wearing a harness connected to a surface tether going forward if I can help it. I understand it’s purpose, but it seems to pose more of an entanglement/surface miscommunication hazard than simply running a reel that I would jump off of an “anchor line”. I will be practicing ice diving every weekend to keep myself busy through the winter season. If my comfort level rises in the next few weeks, I may move this thread into the tech forum and upload some wreck and deco shots under ice.

C4D52DF0-69B4-4772-907E-60DEFF6DC136.jpeg
 
I can see the value in a line clipped off to a d ring in a harness wing and single tank. With gas redundancy and reels and no current(!) it is fine to treat it as an ice cave dive for those so trained.

The local Quarry has a lot of permanent lines set up for this. Of course cave divers were involved lol.
 
I can see the value in a line clipped off to a d ring in a harness wing and single tank. With gas redundancy and reels and no current(!) it is fine to treat it as an ice cave dive for those so trained.

The local Quarry has a lot of permanent lines set up for this. Of course cave divers were involved lol.

Agreed. Not against any method one may use or train with, just my own preferences. Your avatar photo of you under ice looks rad.
 
we have it too !
 
It is nice when you don't need a tether and they can produce a lot of frustration. That said keep in mind for somewhere down the road that learning to communicate effectively using a surface tether is a very worthwhile bit of training. It takes some practise both as the diver and as the surface tender. You can also practise learning to use the tether to communcate in oper water weather too, esp. for searches (stop, go rt, go left, go go back, comer forward).
HINT: start on dry land, a big field with you walking around eyes shut, being directed by the rope signals. Go underwater only after you have learned the signals by heart.
 
blacked out glasses, on land is part of my ice diver course
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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