Under ice diving?

[brokenbones]

How would you go about tying off? I was thinking that I would make a primary tie off to an ice screw on the surface and then make a secondary tie off on the bottom right under the hole to a rock or other object.

That is essentially what we do. Some teams use the legs of a solid structure like a picnic table (that is frozen into the ground) as their primary tie-off, others use an ice screw.

As Scott was saying above, really cold water (32-36F) can play havoc on your equipment. If you have a free flow in one reg, the second free flow is now a few seconds away for your secondary reg ... then the chances of your inflator free flowing is very high. This is why we breath off a stage and keep our back gas for backup only. Another thing we do for deeper dives is to disconnect the bcd and orally inflate the wing...no chance of it sending you to the surface if it can not free flow on you.

We try to minimize any potential for free flows because everything seems to happen at once and multiplies in seconds in cold water.

[DogDiver]

After moving down here from Michigan 4 years ago. Diving and chain saws should never be used in the same sentance.

[jeandiver]

After moving down here from Michigan 4 years ago. Diving and chain saws should never be used in the same sentance.

Ya , fer sure , you betcha dere
I did the Ice Cert class and didn't do another one.
Yes , I remember getting in and out of da hole was EEK!!

Of course , that was LONG BEFORE I had any real overhead training.

I can DEFINATELY SEE why you don't use any of your "backgas" due to free-flow issues/inflator issues. (Froze mine open at the surface , me did...UFFDA)

Interesting. PLEASE keep us posted on all of your progress(es). (SMILE)

Jean

[Serota]

Here are a few pics. of a friend of mine in Wi. actually pursuing this strange activity. Notice how good he looks upon surfacing. This is from Lake Mendota in Madison, Wi..

[mwenner]

[QUOTE=Serota;70915]Here are a few pics. of a friend of mine in Wi. actually pursuing this strange activity. Notice how good he looks upon surfacing. This is from Lake Mendota in Madison, Wi..[/QUOTA]

THX for the photo's Serota! Man, look at that nicely cut entrance hole and warm cabin in the background! I did quite a bit of ice diving when I first got my OW cert, in 72, and never had a problem with my Scubapro Mark 5 or BCD freezin up, ya know..... I remember not being able to talk intelligently for an hour after the dive. I grew up in St Cloud, MN, and there were plenty of fish houses out on numerous frozen lakes. One time, with a 4' thick ice pack, we cut stairs going down into the water, with a 4' X 8' wide hole. I've tried to find the slide film my buddy shot with his Nikonos, us at 70', looking up through this crystal clear blue water, and the 3/16" nylon line arcing it's way to the surface. Another dive (my first ice dive) I tied off to my parents station wagon's bumper parked on the ice next to us, submerged and swam around, until I heard the cracking like mad, and shot to the surface (not suggested). All the noise was a another car driving by, as I had the image of my parents car falling through the ice? This is what we used to do for fun. Fast forward 37 years later, and I'm still tied off to something, diving somewhere, with no real close calls. Safe diving ya'll.

[Sludge]

I remember not being able to talk intelligently for an hour after the dive.

That's right, blame it on the cold!

[RN]

Ya , fer sure , you betcha dere
I did the Ice Cert class and didn't do another one.
Yes , I remember getting in and out of da hole was EEK!!

Of course , that was LONG BEFORE I had any real overhead training.

I can DEFINATELY SEE why you don't use any of your "backgas" due to free-flow issues/inflator issues. (Froze mine open at the surface , me did...UFFDA)

Interesting. PLEASE keep us posted on all of your progress(es). (SMILE)

Jean

Was that when you first started wearing that 3mm shorty?

[FW]

I have tried cave diving equipment under the ice a couple of times. The biggest issue is cold hands! To be really effective, major changes would have to be made. Reels would have to hold thicker line, and be handelable with heavy dry gloves/mittens. FWIW, I gave up, and went back to the tether technique.

[JDostal]

That is essentially what we do. Some teams use the legs of a solid structure like a picnic table (that is frozen into the ground) as their primary tie-off, others use an ice screw.

Cool. I think I'm going to do that next year. Ice diving season is just about done around here with the warm weather we've been having.

We are used to operating lines with gloves on around here. All of our diving is done with dry gloves, especially in our mines. It's a pain but you get pretty used to running lines and reels with all of the extra stuff. Even wreck diving when you shoot bags you do it all with the thick stuff.

[brokenbones]

Cool. I think I'm going to do that next year. Ice diving season is just about done around here with the warm weather we've been having.

We are used to operating lines with gloves on around here. All of our diving is done with dry gloves, especially in our mines. It's a pain but you get pretty used to running lines and reels with all of the extra stuff. Even wreck diving when you shoot bags you do it all with the thick stuff.

Same here! I was shocked when I took my first cave course and found out that I did not need dry gloves. Gear handling became so easy with no gloves