Snow Skiing + Scuba Diving On The Same Day
In past years, there’s usually a bit of time in between my snow skiing and scuba diving seasons. In the spring when snow skiing ends, it’s usually been a few weeks before I get into the local waters for scuba diving and in the late autumn when the last dive of the season has been done, the ski resorts haven’t opened yet. But there have been times when my transition from one activity to the other has been faster when I jumped into the water to dive just a week after my last ski day. I’ve also had my final dive of the year just a week before my first ski day too.
Last week with an unusually long ski season running well into mid April, I decided to challenge myself and for the very first time in my life, I went snow skiing in the morning and then out for my first scuba dive of the year in the afternoon on the same day. I knew that my ski day would be quite short for only 1-2 hours since the April air temperature made the snow too soft and slushy pretty fast. The dive afterwards like my usual first dives of each year, would be relatively short too since the water is still quite cold and this is usually just a quick dive to test out our dive gear to make sure everything is working (not to mention to test we actually remember how to dive).
I usually like to start my skiing right at opening when the ski lifts at Blue Mountain start. This is when lift lines are still low as most skiers and snowboarders haven’t arrived yet and the slopes are still uncrowded. The first few runs are on slopes that are still fairly hard pack and icy from the colder night before. But once the sun starts shining down on them for a bit, the snow starts to soften up for about an hour sweet spot of really good skiing conditions.
Mentally, it was a strange day for me as my mind was mixed up thinking about both skiing and scuba diving at the same time. While I should be focusing on my ski technique, I couldn’t help but also think about my first scuba dive of the year and hoping that my dive gear will work properly (not to mention that I actually remember how to dive).
Soon after that sweet spot the warmer air temperatures start to make the snow a bit too soft and lumpy for my liking so after about 1.5 hours of skiing, I was ready to get off the slopes and head home to dump my skis. I already packed my dive gear in my car so it was just a quick stop back home before heading back out on the road to meet up with my dive buddy Tyler.
We arrived at our dive site, Cedar Hill Park which is an hour west of Blue Mountain at another part of Georgian Bay. We were the only people there that morning and the water just looked darn cold for some reason. But we geared up and headed into the 3 degrees C temperature water.
The dive was actually a decent one with crystal clear visibility within the first 20 feet of depth while the deeper part was still okay. We made it to 48 feet which was good enough for our first dive (we usually go much deeper during our regular dives. My dive gear worked perfectly and I was able to keep fairly warm except the tips of my fingers got a bit cold towards the end of our 20 minute dive. I was happy with my dive technique too as things came back to me fairly quickly.
So I very successful and satisfying day for my first ever ski/scuba combo day. I had challenged myself knowing that doing both activities on the same day would be a very uncommon thing to do. But the outdoor conditions as well as geography made this very feasible for me. I also have to admit that there was a part of me that wanted to prove to myself just how massive my balls are even though the 3 degrees C water probably shrivelled them back inside my body!
Here’s a quick video to show some scenes from my historic (for me) day!
