Ice Diving – Ellerton Park, January 2002

Ellerton lake may not be everybody’s must do dive location, however, one weekend in January 2002, a week of sub zero temperatures transformed it into a fantastic opportunity for a rare treat.  The local training and kit testing lake, at a maximum depth of 9m, had frozen over allowing members of Bishop Auckland Sub-Aqua Club and Darlington 3 Seas Club to take advantage of the chance of an ice dive. 

My buddy, Ken Simpson and I arrived first on Sunday morning to find another group had been in on Saturday and had already broken a sizable hole around the jetty, the broken ice was around 6inches thick but their hole had re-frozen overnight such was the air temperature.  It was relatively easy to breakthrough the 3 inches of re-frozen hole to allow easy access to the water around the jetty area.  Eventually the rest of our team arrived and we set about arranging a system to ensure complete diver safety, not rocket science, but some things must be taken into consideration.  A diver rope and a safety rope were set up and dive plans formulated.  Basically, one roped diver would enter the water with a second kitted diver standing by, the dive plan kept the diver just under the ice, why bother going any deeper, you can do this any weekend of the year.  A surface watch was kept with a dry suited diver on the surface; this was a fun job in itself.  Rope was fed out and pulled in as required by another willing volunteer.  All divers carried a redundant aqualung system in case anything went wrong in this dangerous overhead environment, cold water considerations were observed at all times. 

As could be expected, we all had a fantastic time, swimming out just under the ice, being pulled back to the shore by the rope tender, communicating with the surface by scratching messages on both sides of the ice and watching bubbles under the ice.  We even tried standing upside down and walking on the underside of the ice, not an easy task without practice. 

While the diving took place, others in our party had great fun sliding along on the thick ice, some divers who had been in or were waiting to go in took the opportunity to navigate their way to the sunken cars without the need for a compass, i.e. they walked over to the buoys. 

After we all had our turn under ice and everyone had been sliding and skating along on the ice (everyone had dry suits on, safety was paramount) we headed for the second best thing about diving, the pub.  The Farmers Arms in nearby Scorton had a welcoming real fire, good food and of course a wee dram for those of us lucky enough not to be driving. 

Now everyone wonders why I rub my hands when the forecast is for cold weather……