texascavers Digest 1 Jun 2011 16:52:27 -0000 Issue 1325
texascavers Digest 1 Jun 2011 16:52:27 - Issue 1325 Topics (messages 17945 through 17962): Re: Deep cave rescue happening now in eastern Tennessee multi-drop cave 17945 by: Mark Minton 17946 by: Geary Schindel 17947 by: Rod Goke 17957 by: Mark Minton 17962 by: Geary Schindel Crews Free Trapped Man In Sinking Cove Cave : 17948 by: JerryAtkin.aol.com Re: Rescue at Sinking Cove Cave 17949 by: caverarch Sinking Cove Successful Rescue 17950 by: Linda Palit 17951 by: Tim Stich 17952 by: John P Brooks 17953 by: Linda Palit 17954 by: Mark Minton 17955 by: Geary Schindel Disregard email from last week 17956 by: Leslie Bell New climbing technologies 17958 by: Rod Goke UT Grotto Meeting Tonight 17959 by: Gary Franklin Re: [PBSS] 5 Mouth Dig 17960 by: Bill Bentley 17961 by: Mark.Alman.L-3com.com Administrivia: To subscribe to the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe from the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-unsubscr...@texascavers.com To post to the list, e-mail: texascavers@texascavers.com -- ---BeginMessage--- I can't believe this keeps happening! There have been several accidents of this nature. Why in the world wouldn't an experienced caver have put a knot at the bottom of a rope that is too short and that could potentially be confused for the correct one? And why wasn't he looking where he was going? I always look down to see what's below as I rappel, and I don't rappel so fast that I couldn't stop if there were a problem, like the end of the rope coming at me. I hope the rescue is successful and that people take note to prevent this sort of preventable accident in the future. Mark Minton At 07:17 PM 5/30/2011, speleoste...@aol.com wrote: There's a big cave rescue going on in eastern Tennessee right now. I know the victim - Dirk Siron. It's Sinking Cove Cave. Forty rescuers are in the cave.What I've been told is that Dirk was doing a pull down rappel and got on the wrong rope, falling off the end of it. It appears he's got at least a broken pelvis. A friend of mine is on the scene and texting me. He's at the bottom of the second drop now, and the estimate is they'll have him out in three more hours. Please reply to mmin...@caver.net Permanent email address is mmin...@illinoisalumni.org ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- Mark, I just heard they got him out of the cave. Not sure of the cause of the accident but Sinking Cove Cave is a classic multi-drop pull down trip. Mostly short drops with a nice exit into a truck passage in the bottom of the cave. The Boulder entrance is the one that he entered and includes a 30 foot entrance down climb, a 50 foot rappel, another 53 foot rappel, a 30 foot down climb, a 20 foot rappel and another 20 foot rappel to about 100 feet of stream crawl that is pretty tight. It appears that the accident happened at the last 20 foot drop. Gerald Moni got stuck in the crawl below the last 20 foot drop a couple of years ago and had to be hammered out. I think it would be very difficult to bring someone though this area in a stretcher. Taking someone in a sked up the drops and through some tight crawls would also be very difficult. Then you have to carry them down the mountain. I'm sure this was no easy rescue but the cave rescue teams in the TAG area are the best and most experienced in the US. I understand the guy who was injured was on the Mt. Thor rappels and has a lot of experience. It will probably take a couple of days to hear the details. Geary ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- I don't know the details of what happened in the recent accident in Tennessee, but I can second what Mark said about the importance of looking down frequently and rappelling slowly enough so you can stop on short notice if necessary. This is good advice even when you think you are sure that every rope rigged in the vicinity is long enough to reach the bottom.Back when I was a caver in Colorado, before moving to Austin, there was a seriousrappellingaccident that came very close to being twice as bad, by seriously injuring, or perhaps even killing, a second caver. On the way down, one experienced caver accidently cut his rappel rope, resulting in a long fall with serious injuries to himself. (Yes, cutting his rope was another one on those preventable mistakes you don't normally expect from an experienced caver.) At the top, another, somewhat less experienced, caver had been waiting his turn to rappel and was in a location where he couldn't see what had just happened below. When he saw the rope go slack, he assumed that the first caver was safely off rope at the bottom. There hadn't been any "off rope" voice signal, of course, but the c
texascavers Digest 1 Jun 2011 16:52:27 -0000 Issue 1325
texascavers Digest 1 Jun 2011 16:52:27 - Issue 1325 Topics (messages 17945 through 17962): Re: Deep cave rescue happening now in eastern Tennessee multi-drop cave 17945 by: Mark Minton 17946 by: Geary Schindel 17947 by: Rod Goke 17957 by: Mark Minton 17962 by: Geary Schindel Crews Free Trapped Man In Sinking Cove Cave : 17948 by: JerryAtkin.aol.com Re: Rescue at Sinking Cove Cave 17949 by: caverarch Sinking Cove Successful Rescue 17950 by: Linda Palit 17951 by: Tim Stich 17952 by: John P Brooks 17953 by: Linda Palit 17954 by: Mark Minton 17955 by: Geary Schindel Disregard email from last week 17956 by: Leslie Bell New climbing technologies 17958 by: Rod Goke UT Grotto Meeting Tonight 17959 by: Gary Franklin Re: [PBSS] 5 Mouth Dig 17960 by: Bill Bentley 17961 by: Mark.Alman.L-3com.com Administrivia: To subscribe to the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe from the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-unsubscr...@texascavers.com To post to the list, e-mail: texascavers@texascavers.com -- ---BeginMessage--- I can't believe this keeps happening! There have been several accidents of this nature. Why in the world wouldn't an experienced caver have put a knot at the bottom of a rope that is too short and that could potentially be confused for the correct one? And why wasn't he looking where he was going? I always look down to see what's below as I rappel, and I don't rappel so fast that I couldn't stop if there were a problem, like the end of the rope coming at me. I hope the rescue is successful and that people take note to prevent this sort of preventable accident in the future. Mark Minton At 07:17 PM 5/30/2011, speleoste...@aol.com wrote: There's a big cave rescue going on in eastern Tennessee right now. I know the victim - Dirk Siron. It's Sinking Cove Cave. Forty rescuers are in the cave.What I've been told is that Dirk was doing a pull down rappel and got on the wrong rope, falling off the end of it. It appears he's got at least a broken pelvis. A friend of mine is on the scene and texting me. He's at the bottom of the second drop now, and the estimate is they'll have him out in three more hours. Please reply to mmin...@caver.net Permanent email address is mmin...@illinoisalumni.org ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- Mark, I just heard they got him out of the cave. Not sure of the cause of the accident but Sinking Cove Cave is a classic multi-drop pull down trip. Mostly short drops with a nice exit into a truck passage in the bottom of the cave. The Boulder entrance is the one that he entered and includes a 30 foot entrance down climb, a 50 foot rappel, another 53 foot rappel, a 30 foot down climb, a 20 foot rappel and another 20 foot rappel to about 100 feet of stream crawl that is pretty tight. It appears that the accident happened at the last 20 foot drop. Gerald Moni got stuck in the crawl below the last 20 foot drop a couple of years ago and had to be hammered out. I think it would be very difficult to bring someone though this area in a stretcher. Taking someone in a sked up the drops and through some tight crawls would also be very difficult. Then you have to carry them down the mountain. I'm sure this was no easy rescue but the cave rescue teams in the TAG area are the best and most experienced in the US. I understand the guy who was injured was on the Mt. Thor rappels and has a lot of experience. It will probably take a couple of days to hear the details. Geary ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- I don't know the details of what happened in the recent accident in Tennessee, but I can second what Mark said about the importance of looking down frequently and rappelling slowly enough so you can stop on short notice if necessary. This is good advice even when you think you are sure that every rope rigged in the vicinity is long enough to reach the bottom.Back when I was a caver in Colorado, before moving to Austin, there was a seriousrappellingaccident that came very close to being twice as bad, by seriously injuring, or perhaps even killing, a second caver. On the way down, one experienced caver accidently cut his rappel rope, resulting in a long fall with serious injuries to himself. (Yes, cutting his rope was another one on those preventable mistakes you don't normally expect from an experienced caver.) At the top, another, somewhat less experienced, caver had been waiting his turn to rappel and was in a location where he couldn't see what had just happened below. When he saw the rope go slack, he assumed that the first caver was safely off rope at the bottom. There hadn't been any "off rope" voice signal, of course, but the c
texascavers Digest 1 Jun 2011 16:52:27 -0000 Issue 1325
texascavers Digest 1 Jun 2011 16:52:27 - Issue 1325 Topics (messages 17945 through 17962): Re: Deep cave rescue happening now in eastern Tennessee multi-drop cave 17945 by: Mark Minton 17946 by: Geary Schindel 17947 by: Rod Goke 17957 by: Mark Minton 17962 by: Geary Schindel Crews Free Trapped Man In Sinking Cove Cave : 17948 by: JerryAtkin.aol.com Re: Rescue at Sinking Cove Cave 17949 by: caverarch Sinking Cove Successful Rescue 17950 by: Linda Palit 17951 by: Tim Stich 17952 by: John P Brooks 17953 by: Linda Palit 17954 by: Mark Minton 17955 by: Geary Schindel Disregard email from last week 17956 by: Leslie Bell New climbing technologies 17958 by: Rod Goke UT Grotto Meeting Tonight 17959 by: Gary Franklin Re: [PBSS] 5 Mouth Dig 17960 by: Bill Bentley 17961 by: Mark.Alman.L-3com.com Administrivia: To subscribe to the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe from the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-unsubscr...@texascavers.com To post to the list, e-mail: texascavers@texascavers.com -- ---BeginMessage--- I can't believe this keeps happening! There have been several accidents of this nature. Why in the world wouldn't an experienced caver have put a knot at the bottom of a rope that is too short and that could potentially be confused for the correct one? And why wasn't he looking where he was going? I always look down to see what's below as I rappel, and I don't rappel so fast that I couldn't stop if there were a problem, like the end of the rope coming at me. I hope the rescue is successful and that people take note to prevent this sort of preventable accident in the future. Mark Minton At 07:17 PM 5/30/2011, speleoste...@aol.com wrote: There's a big cave rescue going on in eastern Tennessee right now. I know the victim - Dirk Siron. It's Sinking Cove Cave. Forty rescuers are in the cave.What I've been told is that Dirk was doing a pull down rappel and got on the wrong rope, falling off the end of it. It appears he's got at least a broken pelvis. A friend of mine is on the scene and texting me. He's at the bottom of the second drop now, and the estimate is they'll have him out in three more hours. Please reply to mmin...@caver.net Permanent email address is mmin...@illinoisalumni.org ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- Mark, I just heard they got him out of the cave. Not sure of the cause of the accident but Sinking Cove Cave is a classic multi-drop pull down trip. Mostly short drops with a nice exit into a truck passage in the bottom of the cave. The Boulder entrance is the one that he entered and includes a 30 foot entrance down climb, a 50 foot rappel, another 53 foot rappel, a 30 foot down climb, a 20 foot rappel and another 20 foot rappel to about 100 feet of stream crawl that is pretty tight. It appears that the accident happened at the last 20 foot drop. Gerald Moni got stuck in the crawl below the last 20 foot drop a couple of years ago and had to be hammered out. I think it would be very difficult to bring someone though this area in a stretcher. Taking someone in a sked up the drops and through some tight crawls would also be very difficult. Then you have to carry them down the mountain. I'm sure this was no easy rescue but the cave rescue teams in the TAG area are the best and most experienced in the US. I understand the guy who was injured was on the Mt. Thor rappels and has a lot of experience. It will probably take a couple of days to hear the details. Geary ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- I don't know the details of what happened in the recent accident in Tennessee, but I can second what Mark said about the importance of looking down frequently and rappelling slowly enough so you can stop on short notice if necessary. This is good advice even when you think you are sure that every rope rigged in the vicinity is long enough to reach the bottom.Back when I was a caver in Colorado, before moving to Austin, there was a seriousrappellingaccident that came very close to being twice as bad, by seriously injuring, or perhaps even killing, a second caver. On the way down, one experienced caver accidently cut his rappel rope, resulting in a long fall with serious injuries to himself. (Yes, cutting his rope was another one on those preventable mistakes you don't normally expect from an experienced caver.) At the top, another, somewhat less experienced, caver had been waiting his turn to rappel and was in a location where he couldn't see what had just happened below. When he saw the rope go slack, he assumed that the first caver was safely off rope at the bottom. There hadn't been any "off rope" voice signal, of course, but the c
