***** work in progress - 2T4022 *****
For an ice diving trip you need some ice. There was none in the UK, and the forecasts for Bayern and Tirol were worryingly warm, but we were promised ice as we headed to Stansted for the flight to Memmingen, or as only Ryanair could call it "Munich West". Munich is actually over 100km away, however we were going to Aitrang in Allgäu. Being a cynic I packed my snorkel and SMB. On the trip were Heike Weichert, Mark Threadgold, Ray Lidgate, Bryan Jamieson and James Ryan.
After navigating Ryanair's bizarre pricing - it costs far more to put a bag in the hold than a passenger in the cabin and dangerous goods inspections for those who brought pony cylinders "I don't want to worry you sir, but it could bring down the aircraft" - we were too polite to point out that three people had packed cylinders, but only two were summonsed down to the aircraft hold to twiddle valves and prove them empty - the third cylinder had passed through screening unnoticed - we were en-route. Ryanair evidently considers landing in one piece, at the correct airfield and on time to be worthy of a fanfare. I'd have thought it the minimum to expect from an airline. Stansted was remarkably pleasant for a British airport, and Memmingen Airport was tiny and quiet. We stayed at the Allgäuer Taucherhof in Aitrang, Germany and dived Lechausee in Tirol, Austria.
All except Mark and James had previous ice diving experience, so they sloped off for some beers while we were learning about knots, ice screws and freezing regulators. Ice diving takes a team of four - a pair of divers, a tender and a standby diver. Both divers are on the same rope, the leader second from the end and their buddy at the end. Both divers need to look after the rope - the leader controls the length to the tender, and the buddy controls the length to the leader. The rope is tied around the each diver and then clipped into their kit - the point is to rescue the divers rather then their kit should they separate. The job of the tender is to keep the rope taut so it doesn't entangle the divers and to haul the divers back to the hole on receiving a distress signal up the line. If that doesn't work then the standby diver would go in. Holes in the ice are made with saws, and there must be two, in case one becomes blocked. When the ice is thick non-divers often walk on it, so it's polite to mark your holes so that they don't fall in and die - a plug of thin ice forming where the hole was would be particularly treacherous. The buoyancy and warmth of a drysuit makes jumping up and down on thin ice a fun sport, but it's not to be recommended without one.
After all the talk of hypothermia and freezing regulators, the weather delivered sunshine, nil wind and temperatures up to 10 Celcius. The water temperature ranged from 0C at the surface to 4C at a depth of 6m. The ice was around 100mm thick but was starting to become soft and slippy - it didn't take too much effort to open up the holes. It would probably be the last ice diving weekend until next winter.
Lechausee is freshwater, about 6m deep and is very clear, with visibility of over 100m. We were limited to a 50m radius of the hole in the ice by the length of the rope - when you can't do any further you've probably reached the end. Even if the tender let go, the rope is secured to the reel, and the reel to the ice with a pair of ice screws. The ice transmits light well, and all the underwater photos were with natural light. At the end of the first dive we practiced distress and rescue drills - from the length of the rope we sent a distress signal - repetitive pulls - to the tender, and were promptly hauled back to the hole at great speed.
(to be continued - did anyone take any pictures of the hot stone dinner?)
Lechausee
Mark and Heike make their way across the ice
The line into the distance
Bubbles trapped on the underside of the ice.
The hole
Mark at the surface
Heike and Mark dragged out of the water by Thomas. Retrieving ice divers isn't always an elegant process.
Mark as tender, Heike as a reindeer maybe?
A pair of divers in the distance
Bryan underwater
Ray under the ice
James chilling out (photo: Bryan)
Mark and James from underwater (photo: Bryan)
The team: From left to right: Ray, Marion, Bryan, James, Mark, Heike (photo: Thomas)
Heike in a 1936 Dräger standard diving helmet. We are returning to try it out in October. What could possibly go wrong?