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

[rjack321]

Cave experience and ice diving.... worth watching

So imagine dropping that 400ft reel there in 100ft of water in the silty dark. The impact with the bottom raises a giant poof of silt. Reel sinks into the goo and is "gone"

Good thing at least one of you is on CCR because the only way to make it home is to attempt to reverse course on the compass, fan out and look for the line laying on the bottom. The CCR person at least has hours to look. And hope that line isn't just a thin linear divot in the silt assuming you even swim over it at all.

This is not a good example and should not be emulated.

 

[Misfit12]

So imagine dropping that 400ft reel there in 100ft of water in the silty dark. The impact with the bottom raises a giant poof of silt. Reel sinks into the goo and is "gone"

Good thing at least one of you is on CCR because the only way to make it home is to attempt to reverse course on the compass, fan out and look for the line laying on the bottom. The CCR person at least has hours to look. And hope that line isn't just a thin linear divot in the silt assuming you even swim over it at all.

This is not a good example and should not be emulated.

The line was very visible the whole time, even at a depth of 100 feet, it was easy to see with decent lights.

Our planned heading was exactly due north. Our backup plan for a lost or broken line was to head west a hundred yards, then south back to the lake edge, then follow the edge east in 3 feet of water to our hole.

Pretty simple, and I have so many dives in that area of the lake I was familiar enough with it to find my way back anyway.

Having the hole close to shore is a huge advantage if you need to find your way back with no line.

That being said, no one should ice dive this way without having a lot of training and experience, and they should put A LOT OF TIME INTO A VERY DETAILED DIVE PLAN.

You lose a line in a large cave, you have the same situation. We would use the same techniques to find the lost line here as we would in a cave. And as I mentioned, the backup for that plan was to compass our way back.

The open circuit guy was using the rule of thirds, as you would in a cave, and actually the ccr guy could hand him one of the ccrs of needed since he had one to spare, and the open circuit guy knows how to use it.

So, for us, pretty safe as far as an ice dive goes, may not be for everyone though.

 

[Marie13]

The line was very visible the whole time, even at a depth of 100 feet, it was easy to see with decent lights.

Our planned heading was exactly due north. Our backup plan for a lost or broken line was to head west a hundred yards, then south back to the lake edge, then follow the edge east in 3 feet of water to our hole.

Pretty simple, and I have so many dives in that area of the lake I was familiar enough with it to find my way back anyway.

Having the hole close to shore is a huge advantage if you need to find your way back with no line.

That being said, no one should ice dive this way without having a lot of training and experience, and they should put A LOT OF TIME INTO A VERY DETAILED DIVE PLAN.

You lose a line in a large cave, you have the same situation. We would use the same techniques to find the lost line here as we would in a cave. And as I mentioned, the backup for that plan was to compass our way back.

The open circuit guy was using the rule of thirds, as you would in a cave, and actually the ccr guy could hand him one of the ccrs of needed since he had one to spare, and the open circuit guy knows how to use it.

So, for us, pretty safe as far as an ice dive goes, may not be for everyone though.

Hmm…I’ve heard about a dive of yours at Fortune Pond that would be considered extremely sketchy. Doesn’t exactly lend credibility to this ice dive.

 

[Whitrzac]

Hmm…I’ve heard about a dive of yours at Fortune Pond that would be considered extremely sketchy. Doesn’t exactly lend credibility to this ice dive.

240ft on 20/20 and his computer set to air.
I don't remember the exact ppo2 peak in the video but it was 1.65+

 

[DiveSuperior]

We observed ice going over 100 feet deep in the pressure ridges in Lake Superior pack ice. It's spectacular diving. We had divers driving up from all over Michigan and Wisconsin. Good times out on the ice. Couple photos from back in the day. The surface photo is looking north away from shore.

 

[Polarorbit]

Has anyone tried hanging a strobe below the hole in case of a lost tender line? It seems like it might at least give you a fighting chance of finding the opening.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Has anyone tried hanging a strobe below the hole in case of a lost tender line? It seems like it might at least give you a fighting chance of finding the opening.

I did dive under 1m of ice just 4 times.
In all cases, the water below the ice was well transparent. 1m of ice leaves only little light to pass through. The 3-meters hole in the ice pack was acting as a gigantic flash light under the sun.
Despite the lake had a diameter of almost 300 meters, from every point under the ice you could easily see the beam of light coming form the hole.
In a sunny day, the sun produces more than 3000 lux (lm/m2). A 3m-hole has an area of 7 m2, so it captures 21000 lumen. Some battery-power light can reach such a large lumen count, but it will not change significantly the situation.
A power light can be very good, indeed, if outside is dark.

 

[Polarorbit]

I did dive under 1m of ice just 4 times.
In all cases, the water below the ice was well transparent. 1m of ice leaves only little light to pass through. The 3-meters hole in the ice pack was acting as a gigantic flash light under the sun.
Despite the lake had a diameter of almost 300 meters, from every point under the ice you could easily see the beam of light coming form the hole.
In a sunny day, the sun produces more than 3000 lux (lm/m2). A 3m-hole has an area of 7 m2, so it captures 21000 lumen. Some battery-power light can reach such a large lumen count, but it will not change significantly the situation.
A power light can be very good, indeed, if outside is dark.

My ice dives are in lakes. I definitely don’t get the visibility you have.

 

[DiveSuperior]

Has anyone tried hanging a strobe below the hole in case of a lost tender line? It seems like it might at least give you a fighting chance of finding the opening.

Great idea. I know folks that have used strobes in the ice. If the lake bottom is highly absorptive of visible light or in the case of pack ice where line of sight to exit is obscured then a strobe hung 2 to 4 feet from the bottom would be highly visible. You would also get a contribution of photons from the reflection of the strobe flash from the surrounding ice structures.

 

[Rose Robinson]

the nite before the course starts I personally check all the students regs (other regs are checked if the owner want BUT they are certified ice divers mostly from my courses )

Dear Sir,

This forum is old.

Are you still providing this training?

Where are you located in Canada?

PM me if possible.

Kindest regards, Rose.