Ice Diving

[TxIceDiver]

Hello everyone,

This is a bit of an odd request for this time of the year, but I am looking for locations to ice dive in Colorado.

I am an Ice Diving instructor living in the Dallas/Ft Worth, TX area (working through Surface Interval Scuba in Arlington, TX). I know, ice diving and Texas in the same sentence is oxymoronic, however, humor me.

For the last few seasons I have been conducting ice diving training in Lake Okoboji, IA. This coming winter I would like to try and train in a different location, as we are getting a bit bored with the current location. Yes, we would travel all the way to Colorado to ice dive, mainly because it is impossible to ice dive in TX since the lakes don't freeze over. (Besides, we are already traveling 850 miles to ice dive in Iowa, driving to Twin Lakes, CO is on only 790 miles)

I am thinking about offering a dive n' ski trip for the upcoming season and am starting to scout possible locations that would be suitable. I will need to have local support and knowledge in order to make this training/trip work. So what I am looking for is a local dive shop and location to partner with. I would provide the ice diving instruction and training for the divers that I bring along, and then we would rent Local Dive Shop facilities and support persons to assist. (i.e. location recommendation, hole cutting equipment, shelters)

We would certainly also have to take the Colorado altitudes into consideration as well. I can also teach the altitude diver specialty, as we can dive at altitude in TX, but it is quite low (2,500-3,500 ft) as compared to Colorado.

Currently when I dive in Lake Okoboji, I work through the local dive shop, Blue Water Divers, they actually cut the hole and erect and ice hut (that stays up for the season), put a heater in the hut, let us use their classroom facilities and haul our gear out to the hut for a modest fee of $25/diver/day (plus tips). We just have to reserve the weekend we plan to come. This has been a wonderful arrangement. I would be looking to do something similar (well, not necessarily an ice hut) with a local dive shop/location in Colorado. (I have also dove with Green Bay Scuba in Green Bay, WI. Usually I just try to piggy back on one of the weekends where they already have ice diving planned)

If anyone can provide me with a recommendation of any dive shops that offer ice diving that I can contact, I would really appreciate it.

My plan is to contact the local dive facilities and once I narrow down my search, then I would travel to their site this summer, meet the people and do some local diving and check out the locations. Then come back once the ice season starts and dive a 2nd time in the ice before bringing my students for the training.



Regards,
Randy Cook

 

[Waterskier1]

Check with Divers Reef or email info@diversreef.com. They are a local dive shop in Colorado Springs who have been doing ice dives and instruction for many years. Their website briefly describes the Ice Diving Specialty Class they offer. I think they also support a dive shop in Denver by cutting the holes and such for their ice dives. It is too last this winter (they usually ice dive in Feb) but you might set something up with them for next winter. They either do Twin Lakes or Turquoise Lake (north a bit, just outside of Leadville). The owner (Josh) is also an avid skier so he could probably help you out there too.

 

[Dr. Mark]

I am an ice diver and Instructor in Colorado. Our shop has ice dived at Twin Lakes, Grand Lake,
Wellington Reservoir (Castle Mountain Recreation Area) and once in a really cold winter at Chatfield Reservoir. Our Shop is Underwater Phantaseas (UWP) in Lakewood, CO (303-988-6725). Keep in mind that Turquoise Lake and Twin Lakes are at about 10,000 feet. Your "flatlander" students may have difficulty with that much altitude. The window for ice diving is longer at the higher elevations, but February usually works for some of the lower lakes like Wellington. When you call UWP, speak to the owner, Derek Prosser.

You would want to plan the ski part of your trip first. As you know, going to higher altitude after diving can be problematic. Otherwise, you would have schedule time to complete off-gassing before going skiing.

UWP does a weekend camp out with an underwater treasure hunt at Turquoise Lake the first weekend in August each year. Gear manufacturers donate prizes for the treasure hunt. It is a lot fun! This would be a great time for you to do your summer trip. This year it will be July 31 - August 2, 2009.