Ice diving is much different from diving in those warm, tropical environments that often come to mind when most of us think about SCUBA diving. Most often done in lake environments, and sometimes conducted in remote ocean locations, ice diving is a team diving activity that requires a line tender atop the ice, plus lots of other helpers. While some may wonder why others relish the idea of diving in freezing cold water, many find ice diving to be completely exhilarating. Are you ready to give it a try? Here’s what to expect.
Training and Certification
Before you take your first ice dive, you will need to become certified. You’ll need a PADI AOW certificate or equivalent in order to take an ice diving course. During ice diving training, you will learn how to prepare your dive site, how to recognize unsafe ice conditions, and how to work with the equipment required. You will also run through safety drills and learn about a variety of hazards inherent to ice diving, as well as gain knowledge about how to deal with those hazards.
PADI requires a minimum of three ice dives with an instructor for certification. Besides the instructor, you will be diving with support personnel and safety divers.
Equipment for Ice Diving
One of the most important pieces of equipment is a pair of regulators which are suitable for diving in cold temperatures. While all regulators can freeze up and free flow, some are better than others. You need two regulators for ice diving, not just one. They are usually arranged as follows: first stage number 1, with primary second stage, BCD inflation hose and SPGs, first stage number 2, with a secondary second stage octopus, then a dry suit inflation hose and SPGs.
Exposure suits are a must for ice diving. In fresh water, temperatures can be as cold as 4°C, and in ice water, it can be as cold as -1.8° C, so you’ll need a dry suit. Some experienced ice divers use 7mm wetsuits, pouring hot water into them to preheat them before donning, but when you come out of the water, your temperature can drop rapidly. Hoods and gloves are a must, and many divers prefer to use full face masks for ice diving.
Besides your diving equipment, you’ll need a very warm parka, warm boots, a warm hat that covers your ears, and a place to get warm after diving.
A Typical Ice Dive
Ice thick enough to walk or drive on is nearly impenetrable – in fact, without power tools, it can take hours to cut a hole big enough to enter and exit safely. Besides the snow shovel you’ll need to clear away snow from the top of your dive site, you’ll need to carry an ice saw or a chainsaw. You will need a warm place to change, and you will also need backup diving equipment. This is probably why most ice dives are major group activities; there is a lot of work involved.
Once you have gotten a hole cut in the ice, you will be connected to your surface tender via a rope and harness. The harness goes over your drysuit but is positioned beneath your BC. You will communicate with your tender via a series of rope signals, and a standby diver will wait on the surface in case rescue is needed. Normally, you’ll dive with one or two other people, as more than three ropes can be hard for tenders to keep straight.
Once under the ice, you’ll often enjoy a look at otherworldly beauty that is hard to compare to anything else you may have ever seen. In ocean reef environments, life goes on beneath the ice, with fish and other creatures going about their business. Magnificent ice formations and frozen caves are a feast for the eyes, and your bubbles take on a magical quality. Of course, what you will see does depend on the sites you choose for ice diving; life in the Antarctic, for instance, is much different from the life you might see in a frozen lake. Are you ready to give it a try? Check with your local dive shop, or travel to an ice diving destination for what is certain to be a memorable and exciting experience.