Lac de Tignes (lake of the film "the big blue" - diving infos?

Sorry, I am not very good at writing French, so the text/questions are
given in English/German...

--------english--------

Has anyone here dived in the Lac de Tignes (lake Tignes) in the ski
resort Tignes in Savoy (south-east part of France)?
This lake is known from Luc Besson´s famous film "The Big Blue". The
Lac de Tignes there in the film is the "Andes Lake" where the first
under-ice experiments with Jaque Mayol take place.

We have planned to go skiing there and I am considering taking my dive
gear with me for one(more?) dives...
Is there free access to the lake?
If not, are there access reglementations/fees and who I have to ask
for diving rights?
How deep is the lake and what visibility can be expected?
Is there a nice scenery?

There is a diving club/school:
http://tignesplongee.free.fr/presentation.htm
offering some sort of touristy "under-ice events" for nondivers
according to the infos given in the webpage.

Their offers are not that cheap and icediving (also solo conducted as
a cave dive) I am already doing for decades and so I do not
necessarily need external dive support.
Are the www.tignesplongee.free.fr people ok and are they offering an
added value also to very experienced divers?

regards,
Michael

--------in german-------

War schonmal jemand von euch im Lac de Tignes, gelegen direkt im
Skiort Tignes in Savoyen (Frankreich), tauchen?
Dieser See ist bekannt aus Luc Besson's Kultfilm The Big Blue (Im
Rausch der Tiefe), er ist in dem Film der "Andensee" in dem die ersten
wissenschaftlichen Versuche mit Jaques Mayol stattfanden.

Wir wollen dort Skifahren und ich überlege, ob es Sinn macht noch das
Tauchzeug für einen/mehrere TG mit einzupacken...
Ist der See frei zugänglich oder ist der Zugang in irgendeiner Form
reglementiert?
Wie tief ist denn der See und wie ist die Sicht?
Lohnt sich ein Tauchgang dort oder kann man sich das eher sparen?

Es gibt dort eine Tauchschule:
http://tignesplongee.free.fr/presentation.htm
Sind die ok und bieten die auch für erfahrene Taucher einen Mehrwert?
Die sind nicht ganz billig und Eistauchen (auch Solo in Form eines
Höhlentauchganges) betreibe ich schon seit Jahrzehnten, so dass ich
eigentlich keinen Support einer Tauchschule benötige...

grüße,
Michael

I'm afraid there's no free access to the lake. You will have to consider
diving under the local diving center's dive leader supervision. They 'll
request a 3 star CMAS diving level certificate as well as a medical
certification. I'm not even sure that they would reckognise any other type
of diving certification. Anyhow, the dive consist of a short trip between
two holes holding a rope as a depth of maximum 5 meters....keep your gear at
home it is not worth it...on top of that it's quite expensive...
"Michael Schmidt" <ms250772@gmx.de> a écrit dans le message de news:
supm21pu7k9m4pjkadf3njp3r4k4nkqu6a@4ax.com...
> Sorry, I am not very good at writing French, so the text/questions are
> given in English/German...
>
> --------english--------
>
> Has anyone here dived in the Lac de Tignes (lake Tignes) in the ski
> resort Tignes in Savoy (south-east part of France)?
> This lake is known from Luc Besson´s famous film "The Big Blue". The
> Lac de Tignes there in the film is the "Andes Lake" where the first
> under-ice experiments with Jaque Mayol take place.
>
> We have planned to go skiing there and I am considering taking my dive
> gear with me for one(more?) dives...
> Is there free access to the lake?
> If not, are there access reglementations/fees and who I have to ask
> for diving rights?
> How deep is the lake and what visibility can be expected?
> Is there a nice scenery?
>
> There is a diving club/school:
> http://tignesplongee.free.fr/presentation.htm
> offering some sort of touristy "under-ice events" for nondivers
> according to the infos given in the webpage.
>
> Their offers are not that cheap and icediving (also solo conducted as
> a cave dive) I am already doing for decades and so I do not
> necessarily need external dive support.
> Are the www.tignesplongee.free.fr people ok and are they offering an
> added value also to very experienced divers?
>
> regards,
> Michael
>
> --------in german-------
>
> War schonmal jemand von euch im Lac de Tignes, gelegen direkt im
> Skiort Tignes in Savoyen (Frankreich), tauchen?
> Dieser See ist bekannt aus Luc Besson's Kultfilm The Big Blue (Im
> Rausch der Tiefe), er ist in dem Film der "Andensee" in dem die ersten
> wissenschaftlichen Versuche mit Jaques Mayol stattfanden.
>
> Wir wollen dort Skifahren und ich überlege, ob es Sinn macht noch das
> Tauchzeug für einen/mehrere TG mit einzupacken...
> Ist der See frei zugänglich oder ist der Zugang in irgendeiner Form
> reglementiert?
> Wie tief ist denn der See und wie ist die Sicht?
> Lohnt sich ein Tauchgang dort oder kann man sich das eher sparen?
>
> Es gibt dort eine Tauchschule:
> http://tignesplongee.free.fr/presentation.htm
> Sind die ok und bieten die auch für erfahrene Taucher einen Mehrwert?
> Die sind nicht ganz billig und Eistauchen (auch Solo in Form eines
> Höhlentauchganges) betreibe ich schon seit Jahrzehnten, so dass ich
> eigentlich keinen Support einer Tauchschule benötige...
>
> grüße,
> Michael
>

Hello michael,

Michael Schmidt wrote:
> Sorry, I am not very good at writing French, so the text/questions are
> given in English/German...
>
> --------english--------
>
> Has anyone here dived in the Lac de Tignes (lake Tignes) in the ski
> resort Tignes in Savoy (south-east part of France)?
> This lake is known from Luc Besson´s famous film "The Big Blue". The
> Lac de Tignes there in the film is the "Andes Lake" where the first
> under-ice experiments with Jaque Mayol take place.
>
> We have planned to go skiing there and I am considering taking my dive
> gear with me for one(more?) dives...
> Is there free access to the lake?

As i know , the access is totaly free. But it is obvious that a local
guide should be very helpfull. consider that, whatever you experience
level is , diving under-ice in a unknown moutain place, must be
considered as difficult one. ( my rematk is taking in account your
long cave diving experience ). are you VDST certified ? Cmas levels are
accepted without any pbs.

> If not, are there access reglementations/fees and who I have to ask
> for diving rights?
> How deep is the lake and what visibility can be expected?
> Is there a nice scenery?
>

These kind of moutain lakes are not generally deep. Twenty meters can
be considered as a maximum. The visibility is not greater than 2 meters
du to very light muds lying in bottom lake and a lot of mineral
suspensions. And consider also that you will cross many man skiing mens
and that will look at you as extra-terrestrian with your bottle and
gears ...

> There is a diving club/school:
> http://tignesplongee.free.fr/presentation.htm
> offering some sort of touristy "under-ice events" for nondivers
> according to the infos given in the webpage.
>
> Their offers are not that cheap and icediving (also solo conducted as
> a cave dive) I am already doing for decades and so I do not
> necessarily need external dive support.
> Are the www.tignesplongee.free.fr people ok and are they offering an
> added value also to very experienced divers?

As my own experience told, this commercial structure seems to be very
secure. It is the right place for having a "new" ice-diving experience
without any danger, even it is a little bit expensive.

Do you know there is also a lot of interesting diving spots around
Savoie lake (annecy , le bourget and leman ) ?

You will find additionnal informations on ffessm74.free.fr.

Regards

Phil.
>
> regards,
> Michael
>
> --------in german-------
>
> War schonmal jemand von euch im Lac de Tignes, gelegen direkt im
> Skiort Tignes in Savoyen (Frankreich), tauchen?
> Dieser See ist bekannt aus Luc Besson's Kultfilm The Big Blue (Im
> Rausch der Tiefe), er ist in dem Film der "Andensee" in dem die ersten
> wissenschaftlichen Versuche mit Jaques Mayol stattfanden.
>
> Wir wollen dort Skifahren und ich überlege, ob es Sinn macht noch das
> Tauchzeug für einen/mehrere TG mit einzupacken...
> Ist der See frei zugänglich oder ist der Zugang in irgendeiner Form
> reglementiert?
> Wie tief ist denn der See und wie ist die Sicht?
> Lohnt sich ein Tauchgang dort oder kann man sich das eher sparen?
>
> Es gibt dort eine Tauchschule:
> http://tignesplongee.free.fr/presentation.htm
> Sind die ok und bieten die auch für erfahrene Taucher einen Mehrwert?
> Die sind nicht ganz billig und Eistauchen (auch Solo in Form eines
> Höhlentauchganges) betreibe ich schon seit Jahrzehnten, so dass ich
> eigentlich keinen Support einer Tauchschule benötige...
>
> grüße,
> Michael
>

>> Is there free access to the lake?
>
>As i know , the access is totaly free.
That would be great,
but the other poster in this thread said just the opposite?

In France am I requested to do extensive research whether I am allowed
to dive somewhere or not?
Or can I go diving everywhere when there is no visible sign which
prohibits it?
Are there harsh punishments when you/someone realises that you have
got the wrong information about the access rights of a lake?
In Germany there are sometimes quite mad laws and even different in
every Bundesland (=federal state).

>But it is obvious that a local
>guide should be very helpfull. consider that, whatever you experience
>level is , diving under-ice in a unknown moutain place, must be
>considered as difficult one. ( my remark is taking in account your
>long cave diving experience ).
Yes your are right. Are there experienced lokal divers other than
those commercial beginner ice diving tours?
I prefer not diving solo because its more interesting to dive with
people, you have more fund and you have even the opportunity to learn
something. Unfortunately as a very experienced diver not on a special
diving trip there are no other divers capable of doing the dives you
have planned and so you end up diving alone.

> are you VDST certified ? Cmas levels are
> accepted without any pbs.
yes, VDST/CMAS*** (+ a lot of other plastic)

>> If not, are there access reglementations/fees and who I have to ask
>> for diving rights?
>> How deep is the lake and what visibility can be expected?
>> Is there a nice scenery?
>>
>
>These kind of moutain lakes are not generally deep. Twenty meters can
>be considered as a maximum.
From the pictures I have seen from the valley structure (=flat bottom
of the valley near Tignes) I got the impression that the lake might
not be that deep.
I am asking not because I am keen of big numbers on the depth gauge
but because the lake is situated on ca. 2000m and the next days skiing
will go up to about 3000m so depending on the dive I have to think
about gas selection and decompression. A nitrox and/or even a light
trimix + oxygen (not necessarily for nacosis elimination but for
better offgassing of the He during the night) might be appropriate for
a longer deeper dive. But for 20m and not to that much to see (=short
dive time) this effort might not be necessary and air will do the job.
>The visibility is not greater than 2 meters
>du to very light muds lying in bottom lake and a lot of mineral
>suspensions.
What a pity, not like some other mountain lakes where you can look
through the lake from one end to the other...
Is there a interesting sceney or only mud slopes in lac de Tignes?

>And consider also that you will cross many man skiing mens
>and that will look at you as extra-terrestrian with your bottle and
>gears
Oh well ... I know such situations from my Ice dives in small villages
in teh countryside )

>> Are the www.tignesplongee.free.fr people ok and are they offering an
>> added value also to very experienced divers?
>
>As my own experience told, this commercial structure seems to be very
>secure. It is the right place for having a "new" ice-diving experience
>without any danger, even it is a little bit expensive.
If they are offering a useful service which is worth the money than
its ok.
But I am not willing to pay 60EUR+ to spend a few minutes with very
unexperienced beginners 5m around a ice hole...

>Do you know there is also a lot of interesting diving spots around
>Savoie lake (annecy , le bourget and leman ) ?
>You will find additionnal informations on ffessm74.free.fr.
Thanks for the link. I will need time to dig through it.

MS