Ice diving

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Ice diver with dry suit and rebreather
An apnea diver under the ice.

Ice diving describes diving with technical aids in a body of water that is covered by a centimeter thick sheet of ice . Both scuba divers and apnea divers practice ice diving. Because the only way to get in and out of ice diving is through the hole cut in the ice, it requires special procedures and equipment. Ice diving is practiced by recreational divers , by research divers for scientific purposes and by mission divers for searching, rescuing and recovering people and objects, as well as by professional divers for the maintenance, repair or construction of technical systems.

Similar to cave diving , the most obvious danger in ice diving arises from the fact that the dive cannot be canceled simply by surfacing. If the diver does not find the way back to the entry and exit hole in time, he is trapped under the ice. Therefore, common loons are usually tied to a line, the end of which is attached to the surface and monitored by a companion. Due to water temperatures just above (in fresh water ) or just below (in the sea ) freezing point , hypothermia of the diver as well as the icing of the regulators is an always threatening trigger for fatal accidents. In particular, apnea diving under the ice can be classified as an extreme sport .

equipment

For ice diving, you usually need:

  • a diving suit , preferably a dry suit ; it reduces the risk of hypothermia ;
  • two complete, icing-insensitive regulators ,
  • a compressed air cylinder with double outlet (can be shut off separately), two completely separate breathing systems are better (2 cylinders with one regulator each);
  • a floating diving rope (tear-resistant, 50–100 m);
  • a belay diver with a rope that must be at least as long as that of the diving group; even a few meters away, depending on the situation, there is no way to find the manhole again without a safety rope;
  • a signalman who leads the rope of the diving group and communicates with the group via this;
  • a saw , ax, etc. to open the lake in an environmentally friendly way. A chainsaw should be used without chain oil;
  • experienced dive buddy; nobody should dive under ice without appropriate experience or expert guidance.

Underwater ice hockey

From February 23rd to 25th, 2007, an international underwater ice hockey competition took place for the first time at Weissensee, Austria, based on an idea by Christian Redl . This ice hockey variant was played with 2 apnea divers per team under an eight by six meter playing field at the bottom of the ice. The puck was made of foam polystyrene and due to the high exertion the playing time was only three times ten minutes, during which the players had to come up at intervals of about 30 seconds to take a breath. The participants came from Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Japan, Monaco, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Finland became world champion at this World Cup, defeating Austria in the final. Slovakia came in third.

Web links

Commons : Ice Diving  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lang, MA & JR Stewart: AAUS Polar Diving Workshop Proceedings. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, 1992, accessed January 29, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Ice diving in the Engadine. dive.steha.ch, January 8, 2020, accessed on January 29, 2020 .
  3. ^ A b c R. Todd Smith & Tom Mount: Exploration and Mixed Gas Diving Encyclopedia (English), Chapter: 26 "Expeditions-Arctic Ice Diving", August 2008 at the International Association of Nitrox Divers , Miami Shores, Florida, USA, ISBN 978-0-915539-10-9
  4. 26 - Expeditions - Arctic Ice Diving . In: Tom Mount (Ed.): Exploration and Mixed Gas Diving Encyclopedia . International Association of Nitrox Divers, Miami Shores, Florida August 2008, ISBN 978-0-915539-10-9 .
  5. Puck hunting under the ice . In: Spiegel Online from February 22, 2007
  6. Ice Hockey World Cup under ice: Finland defeated Austria  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Kleine Zeitung Online from February 25, 2007@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.kleine.at