Mount Storm

[brutus_scuba]

Hello,

I'm from Columbus Ohio and this weekend my dive club is planning a trip to Mount Storm, WV for an altitude dive. We have heard rumors lately that the visibility is 6 inches and you can not see anything. (Members of the group have dove the pond before and are hearing that visibilty is worse than normal, but it's all hear-say at this point) This group used to quarry dives and 10-15 feet of visibilty so we aren't looking for crystal clear water by any means but does anyone know what the visibility at Mount Storm is? I'm not looking forward to a brial dive. (I'll dave that for our coopers River trip)
Also if anyone has any information reguarding weather on top of the mountain, and water temps that would be fabulous as well. We are tryign to use this information to help the beginner to moderately advanced divers decide weather or not this is a trip that they could benefit from.

 

[JayJudge]

We might bounce there this Saturday, and will be able to give more details. Usually, vis is 3-6, sometimes 6-8, and once 20+. The 20+ was during the summer with no rain for 2 weeks. I just spoke to someone that gave a lovely water temp of 48-last week in Jan. Davis currently has 20 inches of snow. That is the closest town that has a hotel. The lake is at 3880 ft as I recall. If you haven't been there, 2 27 ft platforms, 1 at 52 ft, 1 at 89, and supposedly another. 1 motorcycle, 4 typewriters, 1 Indian head, 1 bathroom fixture. I don't think there is anything else, aside from the rumored quarry equipment, but everyone I know that has searched for that has come up empty handed. If the plant is running, temp should be in the mid 50s this time of year.
hope this helps
-Jay

 

[aquaman_06]

Hey guys,

I live in Deep Creek Lake, MD but my house is about 30 min from Mt. Storm. That is where my fiance and I did all of our training dives and we dive there a fair bit since it's pretty close and normally rather warm. I have heard that the water temp there as of Monday was 52 degrees at the surface. A friend of my Dad's is an engineer for the power plant and said the water temp will be in that area probably till late march into april.

As far as viz I have never been to Mt. Storm when it was anything worth writing home about. Some days have been so bad there we have packed up and left just because it wasnt worth trying to stay with each other and there was nothing to see. We have gotten decent viz before but that is rare. I dont know that the water is naturally cloudy, the lake is just silty so as soon as you touch bottom any viz you had is toast and it seems like there is nothing to move the sediment along.

If you guys end up going out let me know, maybe Ill try to make a trip up. I havent been to Mt. Storm for a while. My tanks are in washington, pa at the dive shop I travel with since we just got back from FL earlier this month, im having the tanks 02 cleaned and readied for NITROX use. If you are headed up on a Sunday or Sat this weekend maybe Ill go pick my tanks up and try to join you.

 

[brutus_scuba]

Right now it looks like I'll be there Saturday and Sunday, I'm not sure what time of the day but i"ll be there with 10-15 divers from Columbus Ohio. Most of whom will not be silting up the bottom. (One guy is bringing his daughter though (maybe) and I have not seen her dive so I can't promise that), the rest are all very capable divers.

 

[cmalinowski]

Hello,

I'm from Columbus Ohio and this weekend my dive club is planning a trip to Mount Storm, WV for an altitude dive. We have heard rumors lately that the visibility is 6 inches and you can not see anything. (Members of the group have dove the pond before and are hearing that visibilty is worse than normal, but it's all hear-say at this point) This group used to quarry dives and 10-15 feet of visibilty so we aren't looking for crystal clear water by any means but does anyone know what the visibility at Mount Storm is? I'm not looking forward to a brial dive. (I'll dave that for our coopers River trip)
Also if anyone has any information reguarding weather on top of the mountain, and water temps that would be fabulous as well. We are tryign to use this information to help the beginner to moderately advanced divers decide weather or not this is a trip that they could benefit from.

We were there over Presidents Day weekend. Water was 50F. Vis was surprisingly good (maybe 15'... really). The current was there which is a hoot in a lake.

It was very cold and very snowy. If you don't have 4-wheel drive it may difficult to get into the lot, but...

I'll try to attach a pictures, but if not, here's a link to a google album of the dives.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Chris

 

[brutus_scuba]

A current sounds really interesting in a lake but due to the circumstances I guess I understand why. I appreciate the things everyone has been able to share. It looks like I will be there later in the afternoon on Saturday and then in the morning Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to it. Aquaman you are more the welcomed to join us and tommorow I would be able to give you a better idea of what times well be there exactly unfortnatly leaving Columbus Ohio with 15 people it's going to be hard to be real exact.

 

[aquaman_06]

Brutus,

I will try and come out, Ill be able to let you know for sure Friday evening. I am not sure if my fiance will be with me, water much colder then 60 she doesnt really bother with. Though if the viz is up it would be a fun dive. With the lack of severe rain storms chances are the water has had a chance to clear up.

 

[brutus_scuba]

Aquaman

Well it's friday now and my weekend is coming together. The plan is too meet at the Mount Storm cooling pond at 2pm we are leaving Columbus a lil before 9 am so we should be there about 2 oclock (although the group is notorious for runing late). The group is looking like a great group too. We have an instructor coming, another very skilled cave and ice diver, a dive master and three dive master candidates (myself included) going through the class now. In general it should be a fun trip I can't wait.

 

[aquaman_06]

I went up on Sat, there was a small group there, around 5 or 6 people it looked like. Most were in the water or under the water by the time we got there. My fiance came along and we did a one tank dive that last just over an hour.

The viz was better then usual at around 25-30 feet I'd say I had 15 feet of viz. Once we got down to the 55 foot platform you couldnt see much, even with a light. All in all it wasnt bad. The water tempature at the surface was reading on my comp at 53, down at 55 feet it was a dismal 50. All in all though I wasnt really cold.

It was getting out that stunk, I just threw on a robe and drove home and changed, ha ha.

 

[brutus_scuba]

I went up on Sat, there was a small group there, around 5 or 6 people it looked like. Most were in the water or under the water by the time we got there. My fiance came along and we did a one tank dive that last just over an hour.

The viz was better then usual at around 25-30 feet I'd say I had 15 feet of viz. Once we got down to the 55 foot platform you couldnt see much, even with a light. All in all it wasnt bad. The water tempature at the surface was reading on my comp at 53, down at 55 feet it was a dismal 50. All in all though I wasnt really cold.

It was getting out that stunk, I just threw on a robe and drove home and changed, ha ha.

Aquaman,

Sorry I meant to pm you my phone number or something to help us meet up. The drive from Columbus to Mount Storm took about an hour longer then expected (I think mostly because we were in a huge green van with extended top that did not do well with the wind between athens and clarksburg (and of course the mountain from clarksberg on weren't easy in the van either) We ended up getting to the Mountaineer hotel at about 3:15 where we met up with the group already waiting on us and made it to the lake about four oclock. I'm Sorry we dind't get things worked out better but I was swamped at the end of last week.

WE did a dive Saturday night and a dive Sunday morning the water temp we had at 57 which was alright with me, but they said the power plant shut down friday and the lake will probably cool down over the next few weeks. We had about 10 feet of visibility and a really good dive we went to 77 feet the first day but probably spent no more than 30 seconds that deep before we came back up to about 30 and just travelled against the current. When we got to the corner of the lake there we had an awesome time with some of the big boulders and schools of cat fish. The second day we hung out mostly about 30 feet and visited the platforms the motorcycle the typewriters the decorated tree and had another good 40 min dive. All in all the visibility was alright, better than I expected, and I really enjoyed the dive. The only real pain was getting in and out at the SCUBA access point. (Two people from our group actually hurt themselves getting in or out. One twisted an ankle pretty good and the other cut up hit shin on a rock).

Hopefully if we get over there again we can work things out better aquaman.


The Mid-Atlantic Bottom Feeders treated us well. My 24 hour stay in Mount Storm was just really made awesome by the people we met at the hotel, at the Stained Glass Restraunt and around the lake. Some of the nicest folks I've ever met. Thanks Guys

Austin