Titillated by the idea of combining scuba diving with a... chain saw? Then you may wish to consider the fascinating world of ice diving.
There are obvious scientific reasons to go ice-diving. The highly unique ecosystems of both fresh and ocean ice waters are only beginning to be explored by the biology community. And if you’re looking for a new career, ice salvage divers make a decent buck winching snowmobiles and trucks out of lakes. Search-and-rescue divers, of course, intersect with the world of ice diving. Beyond the professional, though ice diving is increasingly a popular recreational pastime.
Frozen lakes, quarries, and the serpentine caves found below polar ice caps all make for fascinating adventures. Ice that seems to glow from its core, glittering cracks, and lighted water deepening into impenetrable depths all exude their siren call. Anemones and coral under Antarctic Sound exude a beauty and purity of color unlike those in any other spot or conditions. One can pick fish like apples as they hover sleepily in the chilly waters. Rivalling tropical environments, these groves of marine life are rich and diverse. It’s not just a different world under the ice... it’s a different universe.
Ice diving is a form of technical diving that requires specialized training. The training covers such topics as how ice forms, how to recognize unsafe ice, dive site preparation (including using that chain saw to create a dive hole), and safety procedures. Ice divers, like cave divers, typically use a tether or guide line to get them back to the surface. Ice divers dive in teams so that one person can tend the line and communicate with the divers through tugs on the line. Both the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and the National Association of Underwater Instructors offer classes and certification in ice diving. Advanced open water diving certification is a prerequisite for both.
Most ice diving involves water of about 4 degrees Celsius. Obviously a dry suit is a good choice for these conditions, but some divers prefer a thick wetsuit. Some drysuit divers use a full face diving mask to completely eliminate contact between their skin and the water.
Once underwater, the low water temperature, anchor ice, and plankton blooms combine to create unique conditions in the polar regions. Visibility under ice is often more than 200 meters (660 feet). Winter months of darkness eliminate sunlight-dependent plankton, making for crystal-clear waters. As beguiling as this is it also creates its own danger: objects in the distance appear much closer than they really are, and it is easy to stray far from the dive hole. Antarctic waters hold the rare and beautiful Gersemia coral, which can stand more than five feet tall, like the redwoods of coral.
Although both Arctic and Antarctic diving are fascinating, there are also very specialized and, frankly, expensive. They’re a wonderful benefit of the marine biologist who likes to dive, and an ambitious goal for the wealthy and experienced sport diver.
For the rest of us, a more realistic way to try ice diving is in a lake. Lake divers often comment on the beautiful colors of life refracted through lake ice. Divers have described being below the surface of the ice as like swimming inside a crystal ball. One of the most popular ice diving spots in the world is at a lake at Tignes, France. (www.tignes.net; click on the British flag for English text.) At Tignes-Le-Lac, you can sign up for a twenty minute dive with no prior diving experience. Fully qualified PADI instructors are next to you every bit of the way, literally—they are connected to their divers by a rope. Wetsuit rental is included in the price of the dive.
Whether at Tignes or at a lake in your area, ice diving is becoming more and more widely available as a winter sport. If you decide to see what all the fuss is about, remember to dive safe, dress appropriately—and have some hot chocolate ready and waiting when you surface!
