MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Winter 2018

88 ML BLUE WINTER 2018 Wonder "While diving down to 10 metres I looked up to see Andrew floating, encompassed by the hole we had made to breathe. The blocks of ice that were once floating individually a few weeks earlier had now frozen back together and created a world unlike anything I have seen before." instructor, and Coombs holds his AIDA level 3. (AIDA, Association Internationale pour le Développement de l’Apnée, is the Swiss rule- and record- keeping body for freediving.) While Coombs’ scenes resemble any number of icebound places—the Arctic Ocean, the Antarctic Peninsula—he shot last winter in Georgian Bay off the east coast of the Bruce Peninsula. “The discomfort and extreme conditions are overshadowed by the beauty and peace found beneath the surface,” says Coombs. “Andrew and I were both suited up in thick wetsuits, gloves, boots, and masks. With a trusty axe we cut through the ice to access the water safely. I shot all photos while freediving on one breath of air—no scuba tanks necessary. Freediving allows us to access the water with minimal restrictions, and ultimate mobility. This world seems alien and dangerous to most, but to us it is a place to experience astonishing natural beauty and wonder.” —Ed.