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Every year, ice diving makes new adepts! More and more diving instructors, sometimes also working as ski instructors in winter resorts near high-altitude lakes, are offering this leisure activity. In France, ice diving is mainly organized in the lakes of the Alps and the Pyrenees. Each of these bodies of water can be a diving spot.

In Savoie, at an altitude of 2,000m, discover the 50m deep Lac de Tignes, which you can also explore at night. Diving schools offer Ice Diver training. From Val Thorens, dive into the 17m deep Lac du Lou, which you reach after a 1h snowshoe ascent.

In Isère, Chamrousse has the particularity of having three Roberts lakes at 2000m altitude, 24m deep, representing a potential 150m under ice path.
Accessible from Morzine-Avoriaz, Lake Montriond, with a depth of 18.5m, at an altitude of 1,064m, is the 3rd largest lake in Haute Savoie after Lake Geneva and Lake Annecy. Topped by a huge cliff and bordered by a 3 km track, it is covered with a 60 cm to 1 m layer of ice every winter. 

The Pyrénées-Orientales are not to be outdone with diving under ice and/or at altitude in the lakes of Bigorre, Balcere and Matemale, culminating between 1,650m and 2,100m altitude, accessible from Les Angles, in January and February.

We advise you to arrive the day before the activity and to stay in the ski resort or in an alpine relay. The next morning, a vehicle will carry the diving equipment to the lake.
As safety and cold weather protection are priorities, a lot of equipment is needed, such as dry suits made of compressed neoprene, warm clothing such as fleeces, hoods, waterproof gloves, face masks, and fins. A dry dressing area is usually provided for changing clothes. Tools are also needed to cut through the ice and move underneath, such as rope, harness, carabiners.

Go to the lake by a walk of about an hour, on snowshoes or cross-country skis. On arrival, you can sometimes have lunch by the lake, in a refuge, as in Lioson, at 1850 m altitude. In the middle of the snow-covered mountains, the instructors delimit an area for diving in the ice and dig two to three holes quite far apart. They connect these holes with a cable, making a triangulation and this lifeline will serve as a "lanyard" for the diver in immersion.

The diver is equipped with a harness connected to the cable, which the instructor, who remains on the surface, can pull to guide or ascend if necessary. This cable necessarily connects the person on the surface to one of the divers on the lanyard, because one must never lose contact with the exit hole. As soon as this important installation is completed, the underwater exploration begins.

Safety implies that only 2 to 3 people are on the lifts, that an air tank is installed on the pendant, marked by a flashlight. The first person to leave turns it on, and the last person to return turns it off. On the surface, two people ensure safety by being themselves already equipped. They stand on the edge of the hole while the others dive, ready to pull them out of the water when they come out.

Others Activities

Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, Nordic skiing, and snowboarding can be practiced from the ski resorts near the lakes.

Ice Diver and Altitude Diver in lakes : Dive shops