Tell me about your experiences ICE DIVING, learned tips & tricks, and things gone wrong...

[Jay Whitehair]

I am getting called more and more frequently for small salvage work i.e. resurfacing power boats, recreational vehicles, cars and such and am signed up for an ice dive class here in Vermont. I am hoping experienced divers will share learned experiences and tricks -or tragedies of the under ice world.

Thank you in advance for sharing your experiences...
j

 

[Angelo Farina]

My experience is more than 30 years old. At the time dry suits were not inflatable, made by very thin rubber and hence delicate, and providing poor thermal insulation, so we did use two wet suits, one above the other....
But the problem was not the body, the problem was the face. After a few minutes my facial muscles were so frozen that I could not keep the regulator using the mouth...
After 5 years I did it again but this time using a full face mask and this was a game changer!

 

[lowviz]

I am hoping experienced divers will share learned experiences and tricks -or tragedies of the under ice world.

Buy this book: IceDiving Operations Hendrick/Zaferes and read it cover to cover. I ice certed with them in 2011 and with UDT (NOT UTD) in 2014. Two very different approaches, both most worthwhile.

Trix?
Never go under the ice untethered.
Find some 'thin' ice and try breaking through from underneath.
Many agencies teach swimming a circle to find a lost/disconnected diver. Do the math, you swim 2* pi* R (distance from hole)
No less than three people. Diver, tender, fully suited-up rescue diver on the surface. My mileage varies...
All the fun is at the surface. Invert and use ice picks to move at lightspeed, your tender directs you R/L with line tugs.
If someone/thing fell through the ice, you aren't going to walk out to the hole.
Ice diving isn't cold if you have good gloves, adrenaline makes up for everything else.
The worst place to be in an ice diving team is on the surface.
Don't EVER disconnect, don't get lost.
Have fun.

 

[Bigbella]

But the problem was not the body, the problem was the face. After a few minutes my facial muscles were so frozen that I could not keep the regulator using the mouth...
After 5 years I did it again but this time using a full face mask and this was a game changer!

I had a similar course experience, also decades ago, in a New Hampshire lake; and we ended up cobbling together homemade necklaces from gangion to keep the regulators close to our mouths. Couldn't feel a thing within minutes; and losing the reg was really the biggest issue, especially since we had gloves with only the thumb free, and our dexterity was already in the toilet from the cold.

Full face masks are the only practical solution; and, judging from your avatar, you've already joined our cult. The instructor, who was sporting one, was not that well-liked by the end of the day.

Also, given the current, we were on tethers, so ensnarement also posed a potential issue, since the visibility was mediocre and there were submerged obstacles and tree falls . . .

 

[nadwidny]

Take a cave course.

 

[shoredivr]

Redundant gas. Drysuit with dry gloves. Really thick hood. Keep your hands dry when being a surface tender. Relax as much as possible. Don’t breathe off the reg on the surface, to prevent free flows. Put your face in the water, then the reg in your mouth.

After years of winter diving, I don’t find the cold numbs my lips so much any more. Also last year I took a Wim Hof course for preparing your body for the effects of cold. That really helped. That’s me in the blue drysuit getting ready for a dive.

I was taught not to trust ice screws for attaching the end of the tethering lines to the ice. Instead, for each tethering line, auger a hole about 10ft back from the edge of the access hole. Get a piece of wood 2”x4” that’s 18” long, and tie the tethering line to the middle of it using a secure knot. Push the end of the 2”x4” down into the hole, until the whole thing is submerged, and let it float up to the underside of the ice, thus securing the end of the line. You can see one of these small holes and the dark line of the wood at the top of the photo below at the 12 o’clock position. Plus you can see four pairs of feet of the topside crew as dark shadows on the ice.

If you are diving a backplate and wing, with a single continuous piece of webbing harness, just clip the tethering line to one of the metal d rings on the harness. Way better than wearing a separate safety harness under a jacket-style BCD to clip the tethering line to.

 

[Jay Whitehair]

Buy this book: IceDiving Operations Hendrick/Zaferes and read it cover to cover. I ice certed with them in 2011 and with UDT (NOT UTD) in 2014. Two very different approaches, both most worthwhile.

Trix?
Never go under the ice untethered.
Find some 'thin' ice and try breaking through from underneath.
Many agencies teach swimming a circle to find a lost/disconnected diver. Do the math, you swim 2* pi* R (distance from hole)
No less than three people. Diver, tender, fully suited-up rescue diver on the surface. My mileage varies...
All the fun is at the surface. Invert and use ice picks to move at lightspeed, your tender directs you R/L with line tugs.
If someone/thing fell through the ice, you aren't going to walk out to the hole.
Ice diving isn't cold if you have good gloves, adrenaline makes up for everything else.
The worst place to be in an ice diving team is on the surface.
Don't EVER disconnect, don't get lost.
Have fun.

 

[Jay Whitehair]

I'm very happy to have posted this question. Already have a bunch of great advice here - I'm taking notes.

The idea of the 2 x 4 tag line anchor is excellent... any actual failures of ice screws documented?
I am looking at the book to order now....
Cave course.... brilliant, and terrifying.

 

[abnfrog]

here in Ontario years ago a diver was lost , the instructor stuck a crowbar in the ice/snow went in the truck nearby and lost the diver ....mechanical means securing the line is a dangerous thing (and no I wont tell you the instructor as he doesn't teach after the incident )

 

[Jay Whitehair]

here in Ontario years ago a diver was lost , the instructor stuck a crowbar in the ice/snow went in the truck nearby and lost the diver ....mechanical means securing the line is a dangerous thing (and no I wont tell you the instructor as he doesn't teach after the incident )

Thanks for sharing about the importance of proper anchors. That painted a picture in my mind I won't soon forget.

The first story i heard about ice diving was this (reported by my uncle who was one of a few who pulled him out), many decades ago (this story is not time stamped but my uncle has been diving for 50+ years).

Two new(wish?) ice divers in Swanzey MA. USA, had one dive kit between them and the plan was to have a go at getting under the ice, one after the other. They had the sense to use a tag line but I don't know what exactly that line was made from. The first diver made it in and out of the water. The second diver donned the same kit and proceeded down. It was reported to me that the surface support tender/diver (originally diver #1) decided he had the situation under control enough to relax and have a cigarette. Said cigarette was lit, smoked and soon discarded without regard. Soon after the tenders wife pointed out that the trailing edge of the tag line was about to enter the dive access hole at which point an unsuccessful effort was made to fetch the line and the line disappeared through the hole. In disbelief it was then discovered that the coil of tag line remained in its initial position, still secured to the ice, on fire. The tender had tossed his cigarette into the coil.

The next day the body was located about 75 yards from the hole, in the direction of the boat landing (coincidence?), with one fin missing, the regulator out of his mouth and air left in the tank.

I post this with respect to all involved in the incident.

The information was quite clear in my uncles memory but is otherwise unconfirmed. It seemed to me that posting this will certainly be a cautionary note, and study, for many reasons.

j