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About a month ago, I asked the list for info about altitude diving. I got about a dozen responses full of info, including a package mailed to me the old-fashionned way (thanks CM). The purpose of my inquiry was so that I could do some altitude diving in Rockies without taking a PADI altitude course. Anyway, I want to thank all those who answered my altitude questions, and I give you this trip report. It is not a "how to altitude dive" article, and it has a lot of emphasis on the demands of altitude diving as I saw it. Hope you enjoy... steve schultz =============================== In August, I was able to take an unusual dive vacation. Most of my Canadian countrymen head south to the land of tropical, crystal-clear water and colourful fish for their hard-earned vacation. Instead, my girlfriend and I packed up the car and drove forty hours across Canada to the Canadian Rocky Mountains to dive glacier lakes. I had visited the Rockies two years earlier on a fishing trip, and I was amazed at their beauty I returned now for the crystal clear light blue water of the glacier lakes. The water looked a lot like tropical water, but it was clear that the lakes would be bone-chilling cold. This was not a worry or even a deterrent for me, as I have done lots of cold water diving including a fair amount of ice diving. The plan was to drive up to the Rockies to a small lake in a very remote area known as a backcountry camping area. It is true wilderness camping. After obtaining the proper permit, we prepared for a long and hard hike to the campground with no luxuries such as toilets, showers or any form of shelter. Elbow Lake was at an altitude of 8000 ft (2425 m). It required a 45-minute hike up a very steep mountain. I planned to carry up a set of doubles as well as 3 single tanks. This was not unreasonable since I'm a fit young man who loves wilderness hiking and camping. Arriving at the parking spot, we decided to carry up the camping gear first. This took us several strenuous trips up and down the mountain to carry up camping supplies for a full week. We knew that it would be very hot work under the noon sun, but we hadn't counted on the surprises that the altitude had in store for us. The mountain air was so dry that we felt constantly dehydrated. As well, the surrounding air at 8000 ft has considerably less oxygen than at sea level. Just hiking up the mountain was totally exhausting. After several trips, all the camping gear was up the mountain. We were completely fatigued and finished for the day even though we had not yet carried up any dive gear. We elected to leave this for the next day. The weather changed drastically overnight. The temperature dropped well below zero. In the morning when we got up, the previous day's comfortable temperature had disappeared. The fatigue due to altitude remained though. We were very tired, and it was so cold that we could see our breath. This was not going to stop the diving. Dragging the dive gear up the mountain was more taxing than I had expected. After dragging a set of doubles, and the rest of the dive gear up the mountain, I was ready for bed. Napping for several hours rejuvenated me. It was time for a dive. I found suiting up for the first dive of the day at altitude was much more exhausting than suiting up for the third or fourth dive of the day at sea level. I took my time and drank lots of fluids. I planned my dive and splashed into the glacier lake. I descended the rocky drop to the bottom. I saw some beautiful trout, and interesting rock formations. I found holes that appeared to be an underwater spring system that was feeding the lake. Before I knew it, 90 minutes had elapsed with a depth of 50 ffw. At sea level this would have easily been a no-decompression dive, but at 8000 ft it had turned into a decompression dive. Because of my altitude, my 50 ft dive was an equivalent depth of 70 ft by US Navy tables. No problems after the dive except the usual fatigue followed by dehydration. I spent so much time recounting the first dive of the trip for the sole reason that many people will never experience an altitude dive. It was my first, and I got others in, but the purpose was to inform those of some realities of altitude diving that I was not aware of. I should also mention that on the drive home, we stopped and dove all over the place, including Kenora ON, the north shore of Superior (fantastic) and many unidentified lakes/rivers that happened to be on the side of the road. It was a great trip. Hope you enjoyed reading about it. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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