Strike wrote:

> > >For starters, ice-diving IS the most EXTREME cold-water diving!!<
>
> > Absolutely not.
>
> And here, I agree with Mika!  I can think of many, many examples of
> cold-water diving where ice - as an overhead environment - is not an issue
> and that are far more extreme, (or even EXTREME!<bwg>)  Penetration dives
> into a deep, cold-water wreck are far more fraught with risk than diving -
> properly - beneath ice.  And surfacing in any environment where the water
> isn't freezing but the air temperature is, requires an altogether
different
> approach to just ice diving! :-)

I tried to write this earlier but, lacking the experience in this kind of
diving, could not figure out how to express it.  Strike did a much better
job than I could.  Even without experience, but with some attention to the
recommended methods of diving beneith ice, I can think of conditions that
are more extreme.  In my mind, it's a reatively simple issue.  Ice is an
overhead environment and, notwithstanding that under some conditions, the
whole you passed through can close once again, really isn't much different
from any other overhead environment.  In fact, it's a bit less risky than
some.  To the best of my knowledge, ice has never collapsed on a submerged
diver as both wrecks and caves have.

Lee