Finally made it up to Mt. Storm, West Virginia (3500' altitude) this weekend so I could check out some gear configurations.
First off, it took me 4.5 hours in the RV to get there from Southern Maryland, a very long trip for an afternoon of diving, although some of the views of the mountains on the trip up were spectacular.
We arived at the lake and saw that both stacks were belching, so I hoped that the temperature of the water would be very warm, since I had heard that if both generators are going it heats up the lake significantly. We drove the old RV down into the snow and ice covered parking area hoping that we would be able to get back out later. The outside temperature was a chilly 28 deg. F.
The 1st thing we did was walk down the small path in front of the RV that said scuba access and feel the temperature of the water. It felt cold after the warm interior of the RV, we guessed in the 60's. There was a little steam coming off of the water near us, and alot of steam out to our left about 500 yds away.
The trail down was about 5 feet wide and stepped down with something like railroad ties that were ice-covered and slick.
Near the water the shoreline is eroded and there is about a foot and 1/2 drop off to the water which is really hard to navigate with the gear and stage bottles, on top of that the entry point in the water is strewn with rocks that range in size from fist size to 5 gallon bucket size and all are covered with a slick green algae.
My wife and I geared up and carefully made our way down to the water and got in (which was no easy feat). We checked each other out and then I carefully negotiated the rocks into a bit deeper water, only slipping once. Unforturnately, my wife slipped off a rock into a deep spot and face planted, injuring her wrist when she fell. We got her back to shore and I told her to stay in her suit as I was going out and getting done what I needed to do, and she would have to be my safety spotter from shore.
There was a slight chop on the surface that made negotiating the rocks difficult. I found a line that was on the 210 degree heading to the 1st 25' deep platform and followed it on down. The vis on the platform was about 15 feet and the temperature after a few feet of depth had dropped from about 62 on the surface to 52 F at 25 feet.
Another line led off of the 1st platform at a 216 degree heading to the 2nd 50' platform. Here the visibility had decreased to about a foot or less. There was also a 1 - 1.5 knt current running to the SE the entire time of the dive which caused me to modify some of my plans. I took another heading and went down to 93 feet with no improvement of visibility or temperature, then made my way back to the 50' platform to work on some gear exersizes.
There was plenty of fish, both large trout and catfish that were begging for food. The 25' plaform had some nice benches installed on them, but with the current you would have to tie yourself in.
If it wasn't for the difficulty of the entry area and the distance from me, it wouldn't be a bad place to do more advanced/technical dive training. I think it would be trouble taking OW students there for there check out dives. I can easily see someone falling and breaking an arm or neck trying to get out to deeper water.
First off, it took me 4.5 hours in the RV to get there from Southern Maryland, a very long trip for an afternoon of diving, although some of the views of the mountains on the trip up were spectacular.
We arived at the lake and saw that both stacks were belching, so I hoped that the temperature of the water would be very warm, since I had heard that if both generators are going it heats up the lake significantly. We drove the old RV down into the snow and ice covered parking area hoping that we would be able to get back out later. The outside temperature was a chilly 28 deg. F.
The 1st thing we did was walk down the small path in front of the RV that said scuba access and feel the temperature of the water. It felt cold after the warm interior of the RV, we guessed in the 60's. There was a little steam coming off of the water near us, and alot of steam out to our left about 500 yds away.
The trail down was about 5 feet wide and stepped down with something like railroad ties that were ice-covered and slick.
Near the water the shoreline is eroded and there is about a foot and 1/2 drop off to the water which is really hard to navigate with the gear and stage bottles, on top of that the entry point in the water is strewn with rocks that range in size from fist size to 5 gallon bucket size and all are covered with a slick green algae.
My wife and I geared up and carefully made our way down to the water and got in (which was no easy feat). We checked each other out and then I carefully negotiated the rocks into a bit deeper water, only slipping once. Unforturnately, my wife slipped off a rock into a deep spot and face planted, injuring her wrist when she fell. We got her back to shore and I told her to stay in her suit as I was going out and getting done what I needed to do, and she would have to be my safety spotter from shore.
There was a slight chop on the surface that made negotiating the rocks difficult. I found a line that was on the 210 degree heading to the 1st 25' deep platform and followed it on down. The vis on the platform was about 15 feet and the temperature after a few feet of depth had dropped from about 62 on the surface to 52 F at 25 feet.
Another line led off of the 1st platform at a 216 degree heading to the 2nd 50' platform. Here the visibility had decreased to about a foot or less. There was also a 1 - 1.5 knt current running to the SE the entire time of the dive which caused me to modify some of my plans. I took another heading and went down to 93 feet with no improvement of visibility or temperature, then made my way back to the 50' platform to work on some gear exersizes.
There was plenty of fish, both large trout and catfish that were begging for food. The 25' plaform had some nice benches installed on them, but with the current you would have to tie yourself in.
If it wasn't for the difficulty of the entry area and the distance from me, it wouldn't be a bad place to do more advanced/technical dive training. I think it would be trouble taking OW students there for there check out dives. I can easily see someone falling and breaking an arm or neck trying to get out to deeper water.
