Diving at Evans Wall

Yesterday, four of us went out with Rob and Steve from the Dive Locker to drill a dive hole near the Evans Wall.  We rode out in a Piston Bully, which is medium on the comfort scale and high on the noise scale.  Ear plugs are nice; conversation is impossible.  



Evans wall is a steep volcanic area, and the dive hole goes at the boundary between the wall and a glacier:



This is Rob’s favorite diving spot in the world.

Putting a dive hole in the sea ice near McMurdo is much easier than it is at Lake Joyce.  A tractor/grader pulls out a drill rig that uses a 4’ diameter drill bit.  It drilled through the 6’ of sea ice in minutes.  


The grader then cleans off the hole and positions the dive hut (which it also pulled out to the site).




Dale, Tyler, Rob, and Steve all dove twice and enjoyed it immensely.



The other Steve and I dive tended and enjoyed the view.  (The dive tending consisted of helping the divers out of the water with their gear.  We had a lot of time to enjoy the view!)

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