Ice Diving: Why It's the Best Thing Ever

You know, you have to wonder who decided it would be a good idea to grab a chainsaw, cut a hole in the middle of a frozen lake, strap on scuba gear, and go for a dive. When you REALLY look at it - what the heck were they thinking!?

But then you get out there and actually jump into a hole in a frozen lake for a dive, and you get it: it's STUNNING.

Ice Diving is quite a challenge. You have to get to the lake, haul ALL your gear across the ice to your entry point (if you're lucky and you have sleds, this is way easier!), shovel navigation rings, stockpile snow, prep the hole, prep your lines, set up your shelter, set up your support gear (including boiling water for defrosting fingers/heating up canned soup/making hot chocolate), then FINALLY get geared up, go for a short dive, get out, pour boiling water on your gear to unclip it (it is frozen after all), then get ready to do it again. At the end of the weekend, you have to pack it all up, haul everything off the ice (and likely uphill to get back to the parking lot!), move the ice blocks back into the hole, plug it up with snow (and cordon it off so someone doesn't accidentally go for a polar swim), and try and fit everything back in your car.

PHEW! That sounds like a lot of work! And really, it is. But you know what? It's worth it. Less than 1% of divers worldwide are Ice certified. It's a pretty cool club to be a part of. At first, you might think it's a terrifying thing to ever try, but believe it or not - once you get down there, you'll forget all that, and you'll keep coming back for more.

Ice Diving typically means AWESOME VISIBILITY!

Because everything is frozen, visibility is typically quite spectacular under the ice. Nothing is moving, nothing is getting stirred up. Especially in our mountain lakes, this when we get some of the best vis we're ever gonna get. We did have one exception, and that was the year after our big floods - vis was... Nada. Zero. Zip. Charcoal. It was nasty. We called off the weekend, as that just wasn't conducive to safe diving. But most of the time, the vis is fabulous - like 30 feet. That's AMAZING!

Ice Diving provides for amazing photo ops and under-ice scenery.

One of the coolest things when you ice dive the first time is when you actually get down the line, and take a minute to look back to the surface. You might think this is a freaky thing to do, because you'll remind yourself that you're under ice. But it's absolutely beautiful - you see giant, glowing rings where you shoveled earlier in the day. The rest of the snow is bright, but not as bright. You can see footprints, the shadow of the tent, shadows of people walking around, and in the middle of it all - a big black hole with a line coming down that's tethered to you (funny, the big black hole is your entry/exit hole). Most of the air you exhale gets trapped under the ice, and looks like liquid mercury sliding about. As the ice melts from your warm breath, you get some pretty cool divets and lumps forming too!

It's a REALLY Cool Challenge.

Cool. Get it? I love bad puns. Diving tethered is tricky at first. The water is cold, your dexterity is reduced, and you're dealing with your dive gear AND a bunch of rope around you. You're working extra hard for some of the shortest dives you may ever do. Yet even after hours of shoveling, cutting a hole, gearing up, defrosting gear, dealing with freeflows, shoveling more snow around the ice hole, hauling your buddies out of the hole - most divers still come up with a giant grin on their face. It's not easy diving. But it's amazingly satisfying. Winter? Lake is solid? Pffft. We're tough, let's go diving anyway.

Bragging Rights. Not Even Going to Pretend This Isn't a Factor.

"Yeah, I ice dive. That's right." Bragging rights are totally a thing, and ice diving gives you some serious bragging rights. Especially when you talk to warm water divers who don't dive locally, they look afraid of you. I'd be lying if I said that folks don't ice dive for the bragging rights, but they totally do. Just like skydiving - I'll do it once to say I did, lots of people will take Ice Diving to say they did. It's a pretty badass cert card to have in your pile. Everyone wants that signature picture, just before their descent - in the hole, big smile, ready to start their ice dive. Makes for the BEST profile picture. And, if you're really lucky, you might be able to snag an awesome underwater selfie under the ice, maybe even some other divers and the ice sheet itself as a background. Fancy.

It's a Good Introduction to Overhead Environments.

If the idea of an overhead environment makes you hyperventilate a little, but you're still

intent on trying it out - Ice Diving may be the one to try. Yeah, there's an eighteen-inch thick layer of ice between you and the surface - but you learn to deal with a buddy, lines and line signalling, cold water conditions, diving extra conservatively - all with a wide open space. Getting past the ice hole is the part that freaks most people out. Once you're down, you have the wide open expanse of the lake itself to complete your dive comfortably, and learn to handle lines while diving. The procedures you undertake as well regarding independent air supplies and proper gas management, planning your dive conservatively, and planning for contingencies and emergencies help instill good habits that not only give you an idea of what to expect should you get training in other overhead environments, but also some good habits to use on all your dives (whether under ice or under the hot Caribbean sun).

It's Safer Than You Think.

Does that sound weird? It does. But, it's true. When executed correctly with the appropriate support team, and all procedures are followed - it is truly a very safe activity. Think about it. When you're doing these training Ice Dives, your depth is limited by the lake depth (which is frequently shallower because of lower water levels in winter), the length of the line, and the limit imposed by your instructor or dive group (because, as we all know - you are all safe, conservative, responsible divers *wags finger*). Support divers on the ice dives are kicking around if help is needed, a rescue diver is always at the ready, and you're tethered to the surface. If you have an emergency, five rope pulls - and you are out of that hole fast. Lost the line (unclipped it for some reason)? The tender will know right away, in goes the rescue diver, and the search begins very quickly. Your entry point is known (as there is only one entry point), and there's no chance that you surfaced elsewhere and just left to have lunch. Unless you have an underwater chainsaw. The amount of support staff around as well both in the hole and on the surface means you always have eyes on you when you're learning. But seriously - if you have an underwater chainsaw, I wanna see it.

It's a Fabulous Team Experience

You end up finishing an ice diving weekend with a lot more friends than when you started. The whole defrosting of extremities and helping someone peel their frozen drysuit butt off an ice block kind of forms a bond between divers. There's also a lot of trust you have to have in your surface tender to communicate with you, and you have to trust the diver on the other side of the line to be responsible and logical in their communications to the surface. The buddy has to trust that the diver in communication with the surface will, in fact, relay all signals accurately. And finally, you have to trust that the ice will support your weight, and that it will be an amazing experience. Ice weekends are almost always followed by beer and greasy food (dude, between the setup and the actual diving itself - you burn a ton of calories ice diving!), which is always an awesome way to complete the experience.

No article, no picture, no video can do justice to the feeling of putting in the work and getting in under the ice yourself. No one can properly describe how amazing it is (well, at least I can't). The only way is to really get out there and give it a go. Not ready to actually try the diving part? Volunteer to come out and help haul gear, shovel, tend line, and be surface support. It takes a team to pull off ice diving safely and successfully, and there are more ways than one to be a part of that team. And when you're ready to dive in - you'll have some surface experience to boot.

Happy diving!

PS - How much does a polar bear weigh?

Enough to break the ice! :D

Photo Credit: Jean-Francois Bolduc/LifeTrippers

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