Have you ever been to Mount Storm, West Viriginia? Well let me tell you in mid January the name of this small village is grossly understated. Mount Blizzard would be a better name. It is a cold, windy and snowy place. Great place for a winter dive trip.

In January of 2006 a group of guys, Byron Wyant, Erin Cooley, Kory Eicher, Don Shock, Bob Hand, Dave Smith, Mike Miller, and several others decided to make a trip to the well known dive site for a winter scuba trip. We left the scuba shop at 6:30am and the temperature was a balmy 45 degrees. There was a slight drizzle. By the time we climbed to the top of Mount Storm the weather had changed. Wind gust of 40-50mph, temperatures in the low 20s without the wind chill, and snow. Water conditions were challenging to say the least. There was a 4 knot current with small swells. This was going to be a challenging dive.

Mount Storm lake is a place best attempted by very experienced divers, the conditions require intense skill sets. The visibility underwater is less than 5 feet underwater, and the water temperatures can be 60 degrees at the surface. This is a high altitude scuba trip meaning that scuba divers must be careful they are in the the right pressure group to prevent Decompression Sickness. So why dive the site? Well, several reasons. It provides good opportunities for divers to enhance their dive skills and because the lake is actually a large cooling pond for an electrical power plant water temps are warm and make this one of the few places you can actually dive in the middle of winter in the Mid Atlantic region.

When we reached the dive site we were surprised to see that we were the only ones diving on this day. The wind blew so strong that it pushed you around on the parking lot. We sought shelter in our vehicles to just keep warm, while we changed into our scuba gear. Erin Cooley and I were fortunate for we had Drysuits which kept us dry and warm even in the lake, but by the time we actually got into the suits our other scuba gear had been sitting outside for a halft an hour. This meant that our pressure gauges, depth gauges, and compasses were frozen solid. We had to dip them in the lake just to thaw them out. By the time we got into the water conditions had worsened and we could only dive to about 20 feet but it provided enough time for us to enjoy the aquatic life. The catfish were plenty and as we banged rocks underwater the catfish swarmed to our position. It was great fun.

We, were able to get out of our scuba gear quickly. We were eternally grateful for Don's heater which was in the scuba trailer. This allowed for a warm spot to change out of the wet gear and get into some warm clothes. We got off the Mountain and enjoyed a dinner at a small restaurant at the bottom of the mountain. It was a great time and we plan on doing it again on January 13, 2007.

More Information on Mount Storm

• Mt. Storm Lake was created in 1962 by Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO) as a cooling pond for the 1,600-megawatt Mt. Storm Power Station, which provides electricity to more than 2 million customers. It is about 145 miles west of the Washington D.C. beltway and 64 miles from Winchester, Virginia, via U.S. Route 50 and West Virginia 42. The 1,200-acre lake serves as a recreation site for boaters, swimmers and scuba divers.
• Elevation - 3, 244 feet - This will be considered an Altitude dive
• Water temps for winter may be around 60 degrees
• Expect Viz to be no better than 15 feet
• Fish life is limited but includes Catfish, Bluegills, and Mussels
• Divers gear up in the parking lot for a 50 feet walk to a narrow dive site entry
• Bottom composition is rock so eliminates silt outs
• A dive flag is required and all divers are required to stay within a 100 feet of the dive flag
• This is a Mountain so temperatures will be colder and weather is sometimes unpredictable so dress accordingly
• Cell phone reception is limited
• Site amenities are limited there was a porta potty in the winter.
• Depths reach 132 feet

Trip Information