The Frozen Beaufort Sea: Part 3

Training for diving in the arctic focuses on emergency preparedness. Here failures can come in many forms.

This entry will focus on frozen regulators or running out of air.

Frozen Regulators issues usually come in two forms.

1. A regulator frozen open and free flowing. With no direct route to the surface (and air) this can spell disaster if you don’t know how to handle this emergency.

2. A frozen closed regulator which gives you no air. Again with no direct route to the surface (and air) this can spell disaster if you don’t know how to handle this emergency.  There are other reasons a diver may not have sufficient air and the emergency procedures for dealing with these are the same as with a frozen regulator.

Arctic divers utilizing full face masks usually have two backup methods of solving this issue unassisted. The first is a redundant air source that is controlled through a Manifold or gas switching Block. Both the primary and secondary air supplies are connected to this block and from this block run one hose to the mask itself. In the event of a first stage failure this device is simply switched over and air will flow from the redundant air tank to the mask.

If the issue resides in the regulator or mask itself then the procedure to deal with it becomes more difficult. This is when we implement a procedure commonly referred to as a “Bail Out. ” A Bail out is where a diver must remove their full face mask underwater and replace it with what is customarily called an “octopus” regulator and a more conventional scuba mask. An “octopus regulator” is simply a conventional regulator that is held in reserve in case of emergency.

The difficulties in performing this maneuver can be many. First, by the time a diver recognizes that they need to perform this maneuver they have already been without air for the period of time in which it took to try the manifold switching maneuver. Air is now becoming very necessary. Second, the water is below freezing in temperature and a diver’s face is several degrees above. When the mask is removed Ice cold water floods the mask. Water often bubbles up inside the nostrils making it hard to breathe after you get the octopus regulator in your mouth.

3. With your face beginning to freeze, your eyes (most likely) closed and in crucial need of air you have to find and deploy the octopus.

4. Seal your now freezing lips to the regulator and breathe. You will most likely take several breaths before taking the time to find your mask. Putting it on your face and clearing it so you can once again see.

If this all comes together successfully it is now time to end the dive and exit the water. If not then you may have to rely on your buddy to supply you with the necessary air and support to get you out of the water in time.

Keep in mind the other issues that may be facing you.

1. The distance between you and the ice hole.
2. Your buoyancy while performing this entire procedure.
3. Decompression or necessary safety stops.
4. Amount of air in the redundant tank.
5. Personal stress related both air consumption as well as every other issue.

The Frozen Beaufort Sea: Part 2

This is the second part of our Beaufort Sea diving expedition story. Exhausted from the previous days travel it’s hard to pull myself out of bed. We use the community bathroom down the hall witch at this point doesn’t sound very appealing. We have to make sure we get to the cafeteria before they stop serving breakfast. Each one of us drags in at different times. Again the food is both plentiful and delicious.  I savored my first cup of coffee as I devoured my breakfast.

Once everyone was finished eating we discussed dive details. For most of us this was a “been there done that” event but for some of our team it was a completely new adventure. One of the only real hard and fast qualifications for this type of diving is the ability to remain calm while diving in an overhead environment.  This type of diving isn’t always easy

to come by and for many of our northwest dive team members what this meant was some type of wreck diving. The other forms of overhead environment diving common to the lower latitudes would be Cavern/Cave Diving and Ice Diving where available.

We finished our last cup of the black gold, climbed into the clumsy garb necessary to stay warm in this environment and headed over to the airport where our dive gear has been stored (outside) at 30 degrees below zero.  We are able to move it into a small airplane hanger where it’s warm. We unpack the equipment and insure it’s ready to take out to sea.

Diving under a polar Ice Cap can mean that for miles there is no other exit from below the ice than where you entered.  Most of the gear a diver wears this far north is not much different than the gear we normally wear in the Pacific Northwest.  I wear the same drysuit, the same tanks, Etc. The only real changes I make are the following. I “environmentally protect” my regulator which is to say that the regulator is protected from the open seawater by enclosing the areas where water usually floods in by covering them with an oil filled cap. This prevents the seawater from freezing inside the regulator and ceasing its functionality. I wear an “arctic grade” undergarment so it’s a little warmer than usual and we all wear full face masks so we don’t have to rely on frozen lips to seal a regulator in our mouths.

After insuring that all our gear is serviceable we repack it and stage it for the next day’s journey to the ice camp.Read part three of our Beaufort Sea adventure next.

The Frozen Beaufort Sea: Part One

In Seattle spring flowers are beginning their March bloom as we board our flight to Alaska. Our first stop is Anchorage where we are meeting up with the other members of our Arctic Dive Team, headed for the Beaufort Sea. It’s only moments before we board the next flight to Deadhorse.

The further north we fly the more the world becomes choked with Ice. The runway in Deadhorse is a mist with spindrift. The wind is blowing hard as the plane taxi’s to the terminal and comes to a stop. The stairway at the back of the plane drops down. In a matter of seconds the heat inside the plane disappears replaced by the freezing cold air of the north.

For those of us who had been there before we knew what to expect and had carried on our parkas. For the chechakos who expected a warm walkway to the terminal the sub zero temperatures were a shock. As you step down the stairs the full blast of cold hits you like a shockwave, the frigid air fills your lungs and it’s hard to breath. Everyone hurries to the terminal.

The baggage claim at the Prudhoe Bay Airport is like a freezer. The only improvement over outside is a lack of wind. There are no carousels here, the luggage is slid through a slit in the wall down a steel slide where travelers have to pull their bags quickly or they jamb up.

Our destination for tonight is the Prudhoe Bay Hotel. It’s only a short distance and we decide to walk. Our walk becomes more of a quick paced shuffle as we slide over the ice covered road. We are in a hurry as meals at the hotel come as part of the nightly fee and are served buffet style for only a limited amount of time each day. They are expecting us and as we enter the hotel the staff ushers us into the dining room so we don’t miss dinner before checking in. The room is packed with people. Deadhorse is a bustling town again in a way that it hasn’t been for years. The Alaska Pipeline need repair and the oil companies have flooded the town with pipeline workers. It’s exciting and insane all at the same time.

The food is massive and plentiful.

Tonight’s Roast Beef night and our dive team tell many sea stories as we devour dinner. Tomorrow at breakfast we will go over our dive plan then unpack all our dive gear. Check it for functionality, repack it and prepare to fly out the following day for our ice camp.