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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Anywhere I like
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 15, 2016 - 03:47pm PT
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Does anyone do it? Have pictures? I am not a scuba diver but I have been to a lot of really pretty high lakes and always wondered about the views beneath the surface. Between Ouray and Silverton off the alpine loop there is Lake Como. Apparently it's incredibly deep. Do people dive in places like this? Would love to see some pictures or read some stories.
Cheers, y'all!
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Aug 15, 2016 - 04:05pm PT
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People do dive at altitude, but the decompression tables change significantly if you get very high. Make sure you're aware of this if you try.
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Anywhere I like
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 15, 2016 - 04:32pm PT
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Interesting link. Like I said, I am not a scuba diver, just curious to hear from people who are. Figured there might be a niche for diving high alpine lakes. Lots of them seem pretty shallow.
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Aug 15, 2016 - 04:46pm PT
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A month or so ago I stumbled across a forum post or blog about scuba diving in Tulainyo Lake just north of Mount Whitney. I don't remeber, exactly, but it was interesting. When I'm on a real computer instead of my phone I'll see if I can rustle it up.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Aug 15, 2016 - 04:50pm PT
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Never done it and no clue. Used to scuba dive; the rack is pretty heavy.
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PAUL SOUZA
Trad climber
Central Valley, CA
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Aug 15, 2016 - 05:14pm PT
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I've been diving on/off for 20 years. Diving at altitude, as others have said, significantly changes the game. It's not hard, but requires more in-depth training, especially if you get into breathing Nitrox.
Do you REALLY want to lug scuba gear up to high alpine lakes!? There's really not much to see unless there is wreckage.
Spend your money, time, and energy diving in the ocean which is incredibly beautiful. I've dived around the world and my favorite area is California and the Channel Islands. Second to that is Guam, which has a high concentration of wreck diving.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Aug 15, 2016 - 05:29pm PT
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Paul, is on the right track here. In an alpine lake, you're not going to get to play with big animals.
In October, we interacted with Sharks.
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Anywhere I like
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 15, 2016 - 05:38pm PT
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That shark in the first photo looks like it is grinning. Good stuff!
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Aug 15, 2016 - 06:02pm PT
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I don't know about high altitude diving, but...
Way, way, way back in the dark ages I spent my summers guiding wilderness canoe trips in northern Canada, on the Churchill River. Now the Churchill River is interesting for two reasons. First, it's not really a river, but rather a thousand-mile-long chain of lakes connected by rapids of varying length. Second, it was the original highway across Canada. It was up and down the Churchill that the fur traders traveled, from Hudson Bay to what is now the Alberta/Saskatchewan border.
And those fur traders carried all sorts of interesting sh#t. Day-to-day living equipment, trading supplies, guns... Just like us, they had to deal with the rapids. And just like us, they sometimes tried to paddle a rapid they should have portaged, and all that interesting sh#t went to the bottom.
So, I'm not sure when, maybe 30 or so years ago, somebody got the idea that it might be interesting to dive at the point where rapids emptied into the next lake.
You can guess the rest.
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knucko
climber
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Aug 15, 2016 - 06:10pm PT
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Early 2000's partner and I hiked up to the Incredible Hulk...just as we were about to get to basecamp two people were hiking out carrying scuba gear. Odd site to see for sure!
Turns out one of the two people had a brother disappear a year earlier and she was out looking?? Not sure what lake they were at but it was near the Hulk.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
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Aug 15, 2016 - 06:35pm PT
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So 25 years ago I was going to spend some time scuba diving Marlette Lake (prob 7500') near Tahoe and Flume Trail in the hope of finding any interesting historical artifacts (paiute, chinese, troglodyte, etc), then I learned it was a man-made lake and we sort of lost interest because of other things, I guess. Totally doable though if for whatever reason it's somebody's interest.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Aug 15, 2016 - 06:43pm PT
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In the early 60s Jeff Foott decided there had to be some old bottles and collectables scattered around the Gaylor Lakes that are close to The Great Sierra Consolidated Silver Mine.
He lugged in all the scuba gear but had little luck.
However as he came out of the water in an area where the trail is right next to the lake, outfitted in a dark black wet suit, tanks and all the assorted paraphernalia one requires, an elderly couple that were hiking along in pure solitude were surprised, freaked out and ran away.
Visions of the Creature From the Black Lagoon?
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Aug 15, 2016 - 06:59pm PT
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Great story, wish I could've witnessed that!
Peace
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Scole
Trad climber
Zapopan
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Aug 16, 2016 - 04:21pm PT
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I've been diving longer than I have been climbing and that's a long time.I have not done a lot of dives at high altitude, but have enjoyed a few. As is mentioned up-thread; high altitude diving requires close attention to dive tables. Gas absorption happens differently under different atmospheric pressures, so dive time is shorter and decompression time longer.
My high altitude dives have been limited to relatively shallow depths to avoid decompression, and water temperature has shortened dive times. By limiting depth and dive times most problems can be avoided, but the use of Ha conversion charts is highly recommended.
On of the best dives I have ever done was in Tenaya Lake during a major thunderstorm. Of course I was breaking one of the most important rules of diving by diving alone (I would never free solo either): Two if you count diving in a T-storm. My max depth was 35 feet, which if I remember correctly is the equivalent of 56 feet at sea level calculated on HA dive charts. The water was very cold and my air consumption was approximately double that at sea level. I lay on the bottom at 35' in the dark, but when the lightening flashed everything lit up and I could see the drowned trees looming like the ribs of sunken ships.
For an advanced diver I see no problems other than the ones listed above, and the large amount of fishing line litter in most lakes. A sharp knife or two is essential.
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Anywhere I like
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 16, 2016 - 04:41pm PT
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Ghost, super interesting. Are there any links to that story somewhere?
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Aug 16, 2016 - 04:50pm PT
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It's do-able, this can get you really f*#ked up at altitude with no meds around.
Important to have a certified Dive Master around. Multitudes of dives in their belt and additional training. This get
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Aug 16, 2016 - 05:15pm PT
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Sadly, so many of the lakes here are chock full of fishermen's garbage....line....beer bottles....bait containers....and various dropped boat parts. Its really sad.
Off topic: Yeah, the trash in the sierra lakes from "fishermen" is pretty gross.
On topic: if you can drive to the lake sounds like good time. if you have to lug all the crap to an alpine lake, not so much.
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F10
Trad climber
Bishop
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Aug 16, 2016 - 05:57pm PT
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A friend of mine would go snorkeling in the popular fishing lakes armed pliers.
He would come back with a bag of bootie lures. The fishermen loved him.
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