When the water gets "hard" you gotta do what you have to.

[Hawkwood]

This is what we have to do to get wet when the water gets "hard". Unfortunately we all can't live by nice open bodies of water. We do have a most beautiful location to dive in though, Lake Minnewanka, Banff National Park in Alberta.

Video taken by my friend and "buddy" Jean-Francois Bolduc, this past weekend.

We were set up over the old 1912 dam and teaching an Ice Diver class (The Dive Shop, Calgary). During the winter the dam is under about 35 feet (11 metres) of water, during the summer, it is up to 60 feet (18 metres) to the top of the dam.

Ice was about 13 inches (0.3 metres) thick and crystal clear. The water temp was 33-34F (~1C), the surface temp over the weekend ranged from 5 to 45F (-15 to 7C).


[video=youtube;WuPo8qNlOac]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuPo8qNlOac[/video]

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Something I once thought I'd like to try ... but at this point in my life I'll content myself with other people's videos ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Omisson]

We had some great ice diving potential in NYC the last few weeks! But seriously the lake George region has 16-18 inch ice cover gotta use the 28 inch chain saws

 

[Hawkwood]

We had some great ice diving potential in NYC the last few weeks! But seriously the lake George region has 16-18 inch ice cover gotta use the 28 inch chain saws

We just barely had enough thickness. We had just over 30 inches a few years ago. That was fun on the descent..."ummm...when are we getting under?". Thick ice is a bit spooky.

 

[TMHeimer]

I've never done it, and to be honest have no desire to. We do have an Ice Fishing Course at the shop in Nova Scotia. I lived most of my adult life in Northern Manitoba and have at times set a "personal" early or late season record for "swimming" in ice holes I cut at "freeze-up" and "breakup". In March the ice would usually be 6 feet thick and leaving the lakes by late May. But hey, no shells in those cold dark lakes, so I never got certified. The ocean USED to freeze over in NS so I hear, especially in Halifax Harbour, but no more. I think they do the course in a lake somewhere.

 

[KeithG]

Not your warm water accessory...

HUSQVARNA 365 X-Torq - Chainsaws

 

[Pinecube]

When the water gets tough, the tough get chainsaws!

This is something I'd like to get into, but given my experience, I wont be considering it for a while. Over here we've had some of the coldest few months on record, it makes me wonder how thick the ice is around here.

 

[Hawkwood]

Not your warm water accessory...

HUSQVARNA 365 X-Torq - Chainsaws

As long as it will run with vegetable oils, you are good to go in the National Park. They will not let us use chainsaws otherwise.

 

[drbill]

If the water here in low elevation SoCal ever got hard, I'd do the same thing I do most "winters..." head for the tropics! Of course this year the water has been unusually toasty even at depth (61-63 F at 100 ft lately).

 

[Hawkwood]

If the water here in low elevation SoCal ever got hard, I'd do the same thing I do most "winters..." head for the tropics! Of course this year the water has been unusually toasty even at depth (61-63 F at 100 ft lately).

Ha! I am off to Hawaii on Sunday for a month. I'm not completely stupid