Cool ice
ArticleThe ice diving is a weird but very special experience.
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Click for the gallery
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In Hungary there are ice dives in every winter. Some organizers use to invited me and three years ago I decided to try this. I felt this is a challenge I need to face. I packed my thick neoprene drysuit, some undersuit, two cold water regulators and the ordinary stuff like mask and fins. Dressing was comfortable in a heated room but the too much undersuit made my moves funny. After I took on my BCD with the tank I wasn't able to walk normally. The ice was slippery, I needed a hand.
While I was sitting with my legs in the lake I thought I was insane. "Why do I this?" But I didn't have the chance to give up, they tightened the rope and I descended with my buddy. Under the ice the visibility of the usually murky lakes get better. We saw a bit more of the underwater scene, later we touched the bottom of the ice but after 25 minutes even in drysuit I felt the cold. My face where it wasn't covered by the mask seemed frozen. But anyway, we survived. Somebody pulled me out of the water and somehow I walked to the heated place again. I did it. I had my first ever ice diving experience!
And when I took off my diving suit I said to myself: "...and the last one!" But three years gone since so I think a diver should "never say never again". Maybe when you read this story, see the photos you think about an ice diving challenge too. It's a real one in a lifetime adventure but don't forget, it's one of the most dangerous kind of diving. You need proper training, proper equipment and proper support. The rope is your Ariadne's thread because without that it's very easy to lost under the ice. Even a small lake can be too big when somebody wants to find a small leak to the surface - it's like a needle in a haystack.
We know there are dangers of scuba diving, we learn it during the open water diver course. As we gain some experience, we feel we would be able to solve most kind of troubles under water. Maybe it's true when you dive in the ocean but when you explore such a dangerous environment like a frozen lake, you need new skills. You should be able to handle a free flowing, you can face claustrophobia, you will how cold is the water even if you dive in a drysuit. In the past the divers made ice dives in wetsuits with simple regulators, and they survived. The key was the same: they knew what waited them under ice and they knew somebody needed to help them above ice.
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(C) Csaba Tökölyi (Click for the gallery)
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For me it means whenever I want to do ice diving again, first of all I'll look for a reliable organizer who cares about safety. Nothing else really matters, the specific dive spot or the costs are not too important when you submerge. When you swim at the bottom the difference is not too big between an ordinary cold water dive and an ice dive. But as you ascend to the shallows and touch the cold and thick ice above your head you'll feel how lucky are you to see that under water - and you'll check your line which will lead you to the surface.
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