Shallowest dives

[Subcooled]

An interesting idea indeed to dive at extreme elevation.

Noteworthy: Commentary: The performance of dive computers at altitude
Someone did it: High altitude dives from 7000 to 14,200 feet in the Himalayas

The latter pdf describes the seriousness of extreme altitude diving.

Their experiences included skin dcs after a dive to 30 feet, loss of consciousness while ascending from 60 feet on air...

 

[David moore]

Many of these high-altitude lakes are not shallow.

Current tables for no-decompression limits and decompression schedules to not apply at those altitudes. You would be venturing into a diving realm that is not well explored. Unlike recreational and Navy tables, there's not a lot of empirical data to support hypothetical limits and schedules at those altitudes. Furthermore, your no-deco limits are extremely short at those altitudes, and deco schedules are extremely long. (Think about doing a 45-minute deco in 40 degree lake water.)

Combine very cold water, high-altitude and the difficulty in humping cylinders to the lakes, and you've got yourself a real mess.

A couple of divers carried pony bottles up to Tulainyo Lake and basically just got their hair wet (20-25 feet for 5 minutes), but I don't know of anyone who has done any serious diving there.

Here are a couple of pictures of Tuilanyo lake (12,802 feet), Sierra Nevada, California. My best guess is that it's 50-80 feet deep. That's like a 100-foot-deep sea-level dive at that altitude.

If you want to join me, we'll take 3-4 days to pack gear and cylinders up to Tulainyo Lake, get a couple of dives, and then take another 2-3 days to pack the gear out. We might want a rope to lower gear down from the Russell-Carillon Pass to the lake shore.

Tulainyo Lake

Tulainyo Lake

Tulainyo lake from the top of Mount Russell

The Russell-Carillon Pass (down in the distance, not in the foreground with the foot steps)

I am one of the divers that dove Lake Tulainyo and it is definitely deep. I went down to approx 40 ft and it still kept on going. It is an extremely dangerous dive just for the fact the the way up is treacherous. You start out by hiking the mountaineers route then you have to take the climbers route, then you get off that and go by compass and have to climb a rock face 200 - 300 ft high without climbing gear and no known route. All this with 80 - 100 pounds of back pack.

 

[g2]

Wow, resurrecting an old thread....

I've dove Turquoise Lake and ice-dove Twin Lakes in Leadville (9000ft), but those are accessible by road.

I looked into Pacific Tarn a few years ago, Codiak and I talked about this. I decided we either needed a helicopter or troop of Llamas -- most of the trail is 'doable' except for the last talus slope, which is steep and at very high elevation.

Thing is, I'm still game! ...If we can figure out the logistics. Acclimation is important too, because you're off-gassing even without diving. Perhaps a more practical lead-up is diving Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park (10,000ft), and the hike is only 2 miles on a good trail.

If anyone wants to have a go at this, let me know.

PS - Crater Lake, Oregon, mentioned earlier in this thread, is now closed to diving.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Here in Colorado my dive shop does and annual dive weekend at Twin Lakes near Leadville, Colorado elevation 11,000 feet. email staff@underwaterphantaseas.com
DivemasterDennis

 

[TMHeimer]

"Extreme Shallow Scuba Diving"

I picture a bunch of folks in wet suits flopping around in puddles like fish in the bottom of a boat.

Isn't this, like, every shore dive in Mississippi?