Ice Diving....Your thoughts

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I'll second the concern with using a floating line under the ice. Floating line is taboo in other forms of technical diving due to the tendency for it to create an entanglement hazard.

Like I said, many things about currently accepted ice diving procedures make me question the validity of those standards in light of the progress made in other technical diving pursuits.
 
I really think it's a good idea to get that piece of ice up out of the hole. Yes, the reason for this is that it MAY very well slide up into it again with divers down. Especially if you ice dive in the ocean, where you may have a tidal current, but also in fresh water.

Maybe you guys are used to thinner ice, but if you have two or five feet of it and it pops back up, you have a problem getting rid of it in a hurry.
 
DA Aquamaster:
I'll second the concern with using a floating line under the ice. Floating line is taboo in other forms of technical diving due to the tendency for it to create an entanglement hazard.

A floating line will slide on the ice. A sinking line will snag on almost anything on the bottom.
 
KOMPRESSOR:
I really think it's a good idea to get that piece of ice up out of the hole. Yes, the reason for this is that it MAY very well slide up into it again with divers down. Especially if you ice dive in the ocean, where you may have a tidal current, but also in fresh water.

Maybe you guys are used to thinner ice, but if you have two or five feet of it and it pops back up, you have a problem getting rid of it in a hurry.

When you cut the hole you cut it into at least three pieces before you push in under. All three pieces would have to slide back into the hole before it would block passage. I have been ice diving nearly every year for the past 30 and I have never seen even one piece move back into the hole on its own. Even if it were to do so, the people topside could push it back under easily and quickly.

Usually, our ice is anywhere from 8" to 20" thick when we are diving. I can't imagine cutting through 5 feet of ice and then lifting it out. A 1ft by 1ft by 5ft thick piece of ice would weigh in excess of 280 lbs! It would only take about 28 lbs to push it under.
 
DA Aquamaster:
I'll second the concern with using a floating line under the ice. Floating line is taboo in other forms of technical diving due to the tendency for it to create an entanglement hazard.

Like I said, many things about currently accepted ice diving procedures make me question the validity of those standards in light of the progress made in other technical diving pursuits.

As was mentioned, the line slides on the bottom of the ice. In a worst case scenario, if there's a break (never heard of one) or loss of one end of the line or another (also rare), the rope will sit under the ice pointing back towords the hole and towards the last location of the diver. If it goes to the bottom it's just gone.
 
captndale:
As for protecting the hole with barricades, we usually use short lengths (3 ft) of 1/2" EMT and plastic safety tape. The EMT is cheap and can be driven easily into the ice with a hammer. We also leave one or more of those little red flashers that you can get at the hardware store for a buck or two. Using blocks of ice around the hole would seem to me to be something of a trip hazard.

Never had a problem with tripping, but I'll have to remember the EMT if I'm ever out on the ice again. More visibility is always a good thing.
 
captndale:
Usually, our ice is anywhere from 8" to 20" thick when we are diving. I can't imagine cutting through 5 feet of ice and then lifting it out. A 1ft by 1ft by 5ft thick piece of ice would weigh in excess of 280 lbs! It would only take about 28 lbs to push it under.

That's why you take it out a foot at a time, in manageable pieces.
 
glbirch:
That's why you take it out a foot at a time, in manageable pieces.

This just seems to me to be a lot of unnecessary work. I have never had any problems of any kind with the blocks of ice under water.
 
captndale:
This just seems to me to be a lot of unnecessary work. I have never had any problems of any kind with the blocks of ice under water.

Never thought of the work as either severe or unnecassary. I doubt either of us will convince the other into changing our methods here, so perhaps we should just agree to disagree?
 
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