Alpinism?

I was reading up on the latest info on rebreathers and I came across the term "Alpinism" or "Alpinist". It is a pretty interesting term that specific to rebreathers means that the diver is diving without a bailout bottle. A bailout bottle is a pretty standard piece of equipment that allows the diver to get air if something goes wrong with the rebreather and loop will not provide the correct air or mixture.

I am taking a guess here, but it looks like the term "Alpinism" derives from the mountain climbers in the Alps that often climb icy peaks without safety gear (let me know if I have this wrong).

There are a number of interesting conversation around alpinism and rebreathers and what is safe, but I also noticed a number of comments about open circuit recreational divers being alpinist as well, but not knowing it.

The typical argument is that when diving in the 100+ foot range on a single tank, not knowing if you can rely on your buddy to provide air in an emergency, you are taking an alpinist attitude about things. You are banking on the fact that gear rarely fails, you always check your air and you can get to the surface by yourself if need be. The funny thing about most of the conversations is they revolve around how bad a buddy can be - not close enough, doesn't know how to do an alternate air ascent, not really paying attention, etc. I know that some buddies are like this, but it a pretty wide brush to paint every buddy with that reputation.

The other part of alpinism that I find really interesting is that the community says it is fine, as long as they know the risks and take them willingly. In the more technical side of diving (cave, trimix, deep, etc) the divers understand the risks more readily.

A good question for all of us recreational divers to ask is "Are we Alpinist in our approach to diving?" In other words have we assessed the risk, mitigate the risks we can and accepted the remaining risks?

Here are some common risks - this is by no means a comprehensive list, just some stuff to think about:

• Am I diving beyond my physical fitness? If I get winded while diving, it is time to shorten my dive up.
• When was the last time my equipment was serviced? Am I taking a regulator past 100 feet when the last time it was serviced was three years ago?
• Is this what I trained for? Has a divemaster in a foreign country led me into a wreck penetration dive that I didn't expect?
• Am I pushing the limits of the dive computer? Did I skip my safety stop because it didn't seem like I needed it?
• If I got caught in fishing line would I have something to cut it with?

How much Alpinism are we willing to accept for ourselves? Greg