About Gary King

I’m a writer, speaker and lover of all things that raise the heartbeat and tickle the senses. If there is one thing that I’ve learnt from my years of extreme sport and adventure travel is that life is for living - not spectating.

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Ice Diving in the French Alps

By Gary King on 08 February 2010 13:45:15

One of the most surreal things that I have ever done is to go diving beneath the ice on Tigne Lake in France. It's a truly mesmerising experience.

Tignes Lake

The high pitched buzzing of a chainsaw echoes across the lake. The noise stops and I watch as the heavy boot kicks the circular block so that it bobs downwards leaving a cobalt blue hole vivid against the ice. The chainsaw goes to work again, this time cutting a four foot by three foot rectangle.

“Are you ready to dive?” The thick French accent bubbles with enthusiasm. “If it’s a beautiful day on the surface it is even more beautiful under the ice.”

“Eeh ooh, c’est un Telly Tubby,” says Alban

as he joins me fully suited.

I’m in Tigne in the French Alps where I’ve come to go ice diving. The setting is stunning with steep sloops rising up to snow covered peaks. Well manicured pistes dotted with skiers wind into the valley and the sun burns brightly in the clear blue sky. It is a perfect alpine day.

Cutting a whole in the ice

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I say although my reply is lost as the chainsaw’s teeth tear into the ice for a third time. The lake is completely frozen and has been visible throughout my descent by snowboard into the valley from the neighbouring resort of Val D’Isere.

“Good, in that case we’ll get ready,” says David Monmarche who is one of my instructors. He leads me to a small wooden hut that acts as both changing room and office. Various certificates of qualification hang at odd angles from the wooden walls. I give them a cursory once over and am reassured that they all seem to be in date. We are joined by my second instructor, Alban Michon who runs the ice diving school in Tigne.

After going through some essentials such as signals and use of equipment I’m soon ready to get changed. The dive is open to anybody from complete novices through to seasoned professionals; more time is spent on the introduction depending upon the diver’s level of experience.

“You only need to take off your jacket and shoes,” says Alban as I step into the dry suit which is just as well because the temperature is just above freezing according to the hut’s thermometer. My breath comes in short wispy puffs as I struggle to pull the suit’s rubber hood over my head. David appears with a bottle of talcum powder.

“Here, try this,” he says and coats the rubber with a thin dusting of talc. The resistance, although somewhat reduced still drags and I emerge with a bright red face and snow white ears. David then proceeds to push my hands into some thick blue gloves and screws them into place onto a plastic coupling that fits on the end of the arms.

The only way is down

I shuffle out of the hut, down the steps and stand in the snow.

“Eeh ooh, c’est un Telly Tubby,” laughs Alban as he joins me fully suited. This dispels any previous thoughts that I’d had about how decidedly 007 it was to snowboard down a mountain and then plunge straight into an icy expanse of water.

We follow David who pulls a sled that is laden down with air canisters, respirators and masks. The diving area is marked out on the lake with red fencing and all three of us stop by the rectangular hole.

“It is very important that we cordon off where we dive because it could be very dangerous if anybody strayed onto the ice and fell through one of the holes,” says Alban, “the holes always freeze over each night but you can never be too careful.”

The sub aquatic atmosphere

has an ethereal calming quality.

I am instructed to sit on the ice and a pair of giant yellow flippers are attached to my feet, an air canister is strapped to my back and an unfeasibly large weight belt is slung around my waist. I then dangle my feet in the hole and David pulls on my mask and respirator.

He then clips me onto a harness and I slowly lower myself in until I’m completely submerged. One of the instructors is always on the surface throughout the dive, in this case its David whilst Alban waits for me below. The transition from bright sunlight to the inky depths is surreal and it takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. Alban is directly in front of me with both thumbs up; I reciprocate the signal assuring him that I’m fine.

Getting ready to dive

It is truly beautiful. If there is a colour known as serene blue then this is surely it. The sub aquatic atmosphere has an ethereal calming quality. The other end of my harness is attached to a rope that is stretched between the ice holes. We float a couple of metres below the surface and slowly edge along the rope; the bubbles from our respirators surge upwards and gather under the silver ice like mercury in shimmering pools. Small cracks and fissures show the irregularity of the ice pack and a few tiny fish dart around our suits.

The disc cut by David’s chainsaw sits under the ice like a giant hockey puck adjacent to its hole. Alban gives it a gentle nudge and it slides away. Again, we trade thumbs up signals and I experiment by spinning through 360 degrees and floating up and down. Sunlight streams through one of the ice holes refracting, reflecting and cutting an eerie fan of colour through the blueness.

After thirty minutes Alban steers me to one of the circular exit points, as I emerge into the crisp alpine air David pulls me onto the ice and in one movement has me sitting upright and has removed my mask and respirator.

“How did you find it Gary? Isn’t it beautiful?”

For a few seconds I am silent as I struggle to find the words.

“C’est magnifique, David, c’est magnifique,” I eventually reply.

Going down

Filed under: Snow / Ice Water

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Posts: 1

Tigne Lake
Reply #2 on : Tue February 09, 2010, 08:50:42

Hi Ted,

There are other places to do it such as Lac da Montriond and Chatel. I love Tigne because you can board in from Val D'Isere. Head straight to the lake, going diving and then board back to town. great way to spend a morning.

Ted
Posts: 1

Re: Ice Diving in the French Alps
Reply #1 on : Mon February 08, 2010, 19:08:17

That looks absolutely brilliant. Do you know if they do it anywhere other Tigne?

Love the site.