Caver Dies In utah

[SuperstitionGuy]

Man Stuck Upside-Down in Cave Dies

SALT LAKE CITY (Nov. 26) — A man stuck upside-down in a cave for more than a day died early Thursday, despite the efforts of dozens of rescuers, authorities said.

John Jones, 26, of Stansbury Park died about 12:30 a.m., nearly 28 hours after he became stuck 700 feet into the cave known as Nutty Putty, Utah County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Spencer Cannon said. Rescuers were next to Jones for much of the day but he was wedged in a small hole too tightly to pull him out or even reach through to assist him, Cannon told The Associated Press.

“They were right there with him, checking his vital signs,” Cannon said. “They were able to get close enough to verify that he was deceased.” The 6-foot-tall, 190-pound spelunker got stuck with his head at an angle below his feet about 9 p.m. MST Tuesday. At times
more than 50 rescuers were involved in trying to free him.

The crevice where Jones was trapped was about 150 feet below ground in an L shaped area of the cave known as “Bob’s Push,” which is only about 18 inches wide and 10 inches high, Cannon said. The rescue effort at the cave, about 80 miles south of Salt Lake City, was slow throughout the day Wednesday with crews chipping away with air-powered tools in the narrow tunnel.

At one point late in the afternoon, Jones was freed from the crevice, only to fall back several feet into the tight space when a cord that was supporting him failed, Cannon said Rescuers were able to get him food and water during that temporary freedom. In the hours after he became wedged again, Jones’ physical condition deteriorated.

“He was experiencing difficulty maintaining consciousness and breathing. With whatever other factors there were, he did not survive,” Cannon said. Cannon said a medical examiner would determine the exact cause of death later. He said crews had suspended efforts to free his body for the night, but would resume at first light. Jones, a medical student at the University of Virginia, was part of a group of 11 people exploring the cave passages. “We were just looking forward to a good time,” Mike Jones, the victim’s 32-year-old brother, told The Salt Lake Tribune.

The group split up, with several children and some adults staying in a less dangerous area of the cave while others decided to explore further, 23-year-old Josh Jones, another brother, told The Salt Lake Tribune. “It basically got to a point where we were trying to figure out if the cave went any further, and that’s the route John decided to take,” 25-year-old Joey Stocking of Logan told the Tribune.

Jones was going head-first into the crevice when he got stuck. “He thought he could kind of keep going on his belly down further, but it got to point where he couldn’t go any further and he got wedged in,” Stocking said. The group tried to free him. “I was only able to see his two feet that was hanging there in the crevice,” Josh Jones said. “I wasn’t able to see more because he was engulfed in the crevice itself.”

Nutty Putty cave is actually a hole on the top of hill about seven miles west of State Road 68. The naturally formed thermal cave is about 1,500 feet long. Its multiple, tunnels and passageways lead to room like openings, a Web site for Utah cave enthusiasts explains.
According to the official Nutty Putty cave Web site, the area was first discovered in 1960. The cave is privately owned by Utah’s State Institutional Trust Land Administration. An access pass is required to explore the cave, with usage restricted to about six groups daily.
The county’s last rescue there was in 2004.

Cannon said officials considered closing the tunnel or sealing it off after the last rescue but ultimately decided to erect a gate that requires a key for entry. “We’ve had people stuck in this exact same spot. We’re working and working to get him undone out of the spot and we don’t really have any way of predicting what’s gonna happen until — boom, all the sudden they’re out,” he said

[joebartels]

Jones was freed from the crevice, only to fall back several feet into the tight space when a cord that was supporting him failed

[big_load]

What an awful way to go.

[JoelHazelton]

Jones was freed from the crevice, only to fall back several feet into the tight space when a cord that was supporting him failed

My thoughts exactly

[azbackpackr]

Yeah, so now all you guys who have posted that when you die, you want to die "out there" instead of at home in bed, surrounded by people who love and care about you, maybe think again... This is just too sad.

Sounds also a bit like maybe they didn't have a lot of spelunking experience, either.

[skatchkins]

Wow! I was following it on another board yesterday. Didn't expect this ending

[nonot]

Yeah, so now all you guys who have posted that when you die, you want to die "out there" instead of at home in bed, surrounded by people who love and care about you, maybe think again...

I'd rather go that way than lying in bed, thank you very much.

Caving rescues are hard, it takes lots and lots of people and success isn't guaranteed. Hopefully they don't seal off the cave.

[SuperstitionGuy]

A medical student who died Thursday after a daylong effort to rescue him 150 feet underground was an outdoors lover and experienced caver who was expecting the birth of his second child next year, officials and family members said.

John Jones, 26, of Stansbury Park, died nearly 28 hours after he got stuck upside-down in Nutty Putty Cave, a popular spelunking site south of Salt Lake City. It was the first known fatality since cavers began exploring the 1,500-foot cave's narrow passageways in the 1960s, cave access manager Michael Leavitt said.

On Wednesday, rescue teams used drilling equipment, rope and a pulley system to try to free Jones, to no avail. On Thursday, rescuers suspended efforts to recover his body as they considered the options to do so, Utah County sheriff's office Sgt. Spencer Cannon said.
The 6-foot-tall, 190-pound Jones got stuck with his head at an angle below his feet about 9 p.m. Tuesday in an L-shaped area of the cave known as "Bob's Push." The area is only about 18 inches wide and 10 inches high.

Exploring Nutty Putty, which is privately owned by Utah's State Institutional Trust Land Administration, requires reservations, an access pass and, for safety reasons, either caving experience or an experienced guide. The Jones group of 11 explorers, including some of his four brothers, met all three of those criteria, Leavitt said.

"They've never been to Nutty Putty before, but they toured many harder caves in the Logan area that required vertical climbing skills," said Leavitt, one of dozens of cavers who volunteered with the rescue effort. "They were qualified, John was qualified. I'm sure he went into this passage hoping it was going to open up into one of the larger rooms." Nutty Putty is now closed until a decision can be made about its future, Leavitt said.

As described by his family, Jones was an outdoor lover with a strong sense of adventure. "He head explored many caves and maneuvered is way through many tight spaces before," the family said in a statement issued late Thursday.

For the past two years, the St. George native was attending medical school at the University of Virginia, hoping to pursue a career as pediatric cardiologist. Jones, his wife Emily and their 13-month-old daughter had come home to Utah for the Thanksgiving holiday and to share the news that another baby is expected in June.

Family said they knew Jones fought to survive throughout the rescue effort and was commended by rescue crews for "his remarkable good spirits and resilience to the end."

At one point Wednesday, workers had moved Jones roughly 12 feet out of a tight 18-by-10 inch crevice, far enough to give him some food and water. But he slipped back into the tight space when an anchor in the cave roof that supported the pulley system failed, Cannon said.
"We all were very optimistic and hopeful. But it became increasingly clear last night after he got re-stuck that there weren't very many options left," Jones' brother, Spencer Jones, 30, of San Francisco, told The Associated Press.

Spencer Jones said his family is "remarkably strong," but is struggling to make sense of what happened. "It's just you just never expect any thing like this," he said. "We don't understand it." A memorial service is planned for Saturday.

The team of rescuers _ many of them volunteers from Utah caving groups _ were devastated by Thursday's outcome, Cannon said.
"It's a tough," Cannon said. "It's not very often where you come in, you have high hopes and you are going into an operation you have done before with success and then you get into a situation where it doesn't go as you planned."

Search and rescue workers successfully rescued two people from the same spot in the 1,500-foot-long cave during the same week in 2004.
"Caving isn't generally considered to be a dangerous sport," Cannon said. "But I think you can safely say this is a dangerous spot in that cave."

Cannon said the sheriff's office wouldn't give an opinion about whether the cave should remain open for recreation or be closed.

[joebartels]

the sheriff's office wouldn't give an opinion about whether the cave should remain open for recreation or be closed

nor should they

One death in 49 years "sounds" more like an accident than an unavoidable death trap. Squaw Peak would have been closed long ago if death by use was a determining factor.

[Jeffshadows]

Shame to lose a med student. We need more, not less...

[azbackpackr]

Agreed, that's what I was thinking. It's just a sad thing any way you look at it.

[SuperstitionGuy]

SPANISH FORK, Utah -- Utah County sheriff's officials announced Friday, Nov. 27, they will not try to retrieve the body of a Mormon dad who died late Wednesday in the Nutty Putty Cave. The cave will be permanently sealed with his body inside.

"There will be no future efforts to remove the body because of where it's located and the danger of accessing the area. The risk is too high," Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon said.

"The cave will be permanently closed, and it will be the final resting place of John Jones."

Jones, 26, of Stansbury Park, died in the cave after he became stuck in an 18-inch-by-10-inch L-shaped "pinch point" in an unnamed area of the cave. A 27-hour rescue involving more than 100 volunteers was mounted within an hour of the 911 call that went out late Tuesday, Nov. 24, but Jones ultimately lost consciousness and died.

Members of Jones' family were consulted about the decision to leave his body inside and seal the cave.

"We feel that John would want to protect the safety of future cavers," said Jones' brother, Josh Jones.

He said his family is considering placing some kind of memorial to his brother near the cave's entrance.

Cannon said deputies also consulted with state officials about the future of the cave and considered several possibilities, including keeping it open with controlled access, sealing off the more dangerous portions of the cave or sealing off the cave altogether.

He said the cave has too many dangerous, narrow spaces where others could get trapped, and it's a difficult cave for rescue efforts.

Sgt. Tom Hodgson called the rescue attempt Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 25, the most difficult search and rescue operation of his 30-year career.

Officials did not say Friday, Nov. 27, how exactly they planned to seal off access to the cave.

The Nutty Putty Cave, which is accessed through a hole on the top of a hill about seven miles west of state Road 68, was closed a few years ago following four rescues. In each case, explorers had become stuck and were extracted with no serious injuries. The incidents, however, led the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, which owns the land, to make the cave a controlled-access area.

Timpanogos Grotto, the local chapter of the National Speleological Society, has been managing access to the now-gated cave. Permits were supposed to have been given only to properly qualified groups.

[azbackpackr]

Whoa, that's unreal. In this day and age, seems like they could figure out how to get him out of there. I'm not dissing them, I"m sure they tried everything! I'm just kind of amazed that the situation must be almost impossible, or they would never have decided on this.

[Jeffshadows]

Hence why Escabrosa members are such key-nazis down here...

[azbackpackr]

I just wonder if they will actually stick with this decision. And it just seems so awful to leave a family member behind in such a place.

[SuperstitionGuy]

Hence why Escabrosa members are such key-nazis down here...

For those of you that don't know who Jeff was referring to, go to the following link.

http://www.escabrosa.org/