Ice Diving

[divingbuddy]

Y'all are welcome to join us north of the 49th parallel where water getting 'hard' is a fairly regular occasion (did I mention the snowflakes I am seeing out my window....).

Seriously though...we do run an ice course each winter in Richmond Hill, Ontario (about 30 minutes north of Toronto). That is just down the street for you ACR.

If anyone is interested, drop me a PM.

I've also wanted to take an ice diving course. If for no other reason than to say "I've been there, done that". I don't particularly like the cold water, but I do dive year round here in KY, to stay in practice. The problem with ice diving here, is that it's only once every 10- 15 yrs that it get cold enough for the waters to freeze solid enough to allow people to go out on the ice.

 

[ppo2_diver]

If we don't get enough ice in the Chicago area, we'll head up north to Wisconsin. There are a few lakes and quarries that get quite a bit of ice.

 

[ACR]

2) Regulator- properly maintenanced for ice diving. Mine did not freeze but i saw plenty that did. I recommend Sherwood or Atomic. I have an Atomic B2 and after sealing it for ice diving, it worked great.
[/LEFT]

Anyone used the Diverite Hurricane for ice diving? Tech specs tell me it's spec'd down to 36deg...

 

[Jimmer]

I haven't personally used the Hurricane, but I know several guys that ice dive with Beuchat's other regs, and the Hurricane itself has a really good reputation for cold water. I imagine it would be just fine.

 

[Debraw]

The one thing that i see missing so far.....a chainsaw or other form of making a hole.Snip>SNIP>

i think that's because it might be, like in my course, that the hole is already there. We did undergo an orientation and section in the course about making a hole, clearing snow around the hole, in the form of arrows and circles.

 

[Debraw]

Anyone used the Diverite Hurricane for ice diving? Tech specs tell me it's spec'd down to 36deg...

The hurricane was introduced, I think, after our ice diving trip. I know it's rated down to 36 degrees but that is in the water. What about when you come up into either a 19 degree hut ( as in my class), or some course that are taught outside and the wind hits it and causes a windchill well below the 36 degree mark? Does the reg freeze up after that? I would think it would. We had more equipment problems coming in and out of the water repeatedly, as you would in a class situation. My 1st stage was literally covered in ice and I was able to chip it off.
Oh yeah the other down side to using wet gloves is that when you come out of the water and lay your hands down on the bench they might stick.

 

[J.R.]

As the colder weather approaches I have a question for the ice divers among us. I'm interested in taking my ice diving cert at some point this winter and I'm curious to your opinion on the gear required for this variant of diving

What is the minimum list of gear you'd take when ice diving? What redundant systems would you have in place?

Thanks!

Well... add me to the list of people who are lining up (short line, eh?) to do ice diving. A bunch of us a the LDS are planning on doing a class this winter.

I've done some checking at various sources on and off the internet and have elected to go with a 19ft. pony with a Sherwood Blizzard as my backup air. Probably have at least two pair of gloves with me. Harness... and whatever the instructor sez' we should have. I'm also planning on making a "pool dive" with all the gear I intend on using during the ice dive... just to make sure there aren't any "obvious issues" with the set up that need to be addressed before I play penguin...

On thing that seems to be pretty universal in the "advise" areas I've looked at is going with an 'environmentally sealed' first stage and making sure that your equipment has been serviced fairly recently. One LDS op who's now doing the annual serviceing on my regs and is installing an environmental kit on my Aqua-Lung Legend first stage also reminded me that you should do a dive with it BEFORE you hit the ice... just to make sure the newly serviced reg functions "as advertised"...

... other than that... I'm just waitin' for the ice... and trying to keep warm in the interum...

 

[J.R.]

... oh yea... REALLY GOOD DRYSUIT...

 

[oreocookie]

Well... add me to the list of people who are lining up (short line, eh?) to do ice diving.

I'll make that line a little longer. Living where I do, I think taking an ice diving course at some point is fairly inevitable. Conveniently, my buddy apparently thinks that ice diving sounds pretty cool (found this out when the lds passed around a survey in our OW class about what kinds of trips, events and courses we might be interested in.)... I think this winter's local diving though is going to be restricted to a 50ft deep pool we've got in town... no ice there (and for now I'm not complaining).

 

[Diver0001]

As the colder weather approaches I have a question for the ice divers among us. I'm interested in taking my ice diving cert at some point this winter and I'm curious to your opinion on the gear required for this variant of diving

What is the minimum list of gear you'd take when ice diving? What redundant systems would you have in place?

Thanks!

Well.... I'm looking at this two ways.

On the one hand I personally would use my double 12's and I would want my buddy in his too. When I took my ice diving course we had really cold weather and a lot of equipment issues (frozen inflators, frozen 2nd's, even ripped open (or cracked) tilam.... In any case if I didn't have redundant regulators (1st and 2nd stages) I wouldn't feel comfortable and that's saying a lot because it takes alot to make me feel uncomfortable.

The other part of taht is that redundancy isn't going to do you any good if you can't use it. If you can't isolate and shut down a free flowing regulator fairly quickly then having all the extra gear *might* be more a liability to you than a help.

I guess someone will probably respond arrogantly that if you can't shut down then you have no business ice diving.... One possibility if you can't shut down would be to take a 5 litre pony bottle slung and then just don't go too far from the exit.

The main point being that familiarity and comfort with your gear needs to be high on the the list of considerations when you're deciding how to get configured.

R..