| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson, Gary | Not recorded | Male | Hypothermia | Not recorded |
While on a cross-country trip, four members of the Mother Lode Grotto and five members of the California Cadet Corps Rifle Team, stopped at Jewel Cave National Monument for 2 days of spelunking tours. Even though this was only Gary Johnson's third cave, he did all right during the first day of caving. But because Johnson was 6 foot 4 inches tall and weighed 240 pounds, his party was concerned about the tight crawlways they planned to explore the second day.
On the second trip Johnson was able to get through Hurricane Corner without difficulty. At the Brain Drain he tried to crawl through on his back. After trying for about a half hour, he started getting cold, so he gave up on getting through and started backing out. He moved back about a foot and a half and then announced he was stuck. Jack Espinal described the problem: "At this point, Johnson's best friend, Ray Miller, lost control of himself. He started crying and yelling that they should never have come on this trip and that Johnson was going to die in the cave. I think that Johnson started to panic when he heard this. Don Currier started talking to Johnson to calm him down while I pushed Miller on down the Passage to get him away from Johnson. I told him to get hold of himself and then come back and help us.
"In the meantime we had Johnson try several things to free himself. We had him try and move sideways but he was unable to. We tried to calm him down by talking to him (this might relax his muscles and he would be able to free himself) but this didn't seem to help. We pulled on his legs but this only caused pain in Johnson's rib cage. Finally Johnson's coveralls were cut in order to remove them and give him some room; however, this also failed to help.
"At this point we dispatched a party for help. We were located about forty-five minutes travel time from the elevator entrance to the cave. It took about two hours for help to arrive. During this time every possible thing was done to make Johnson comfortable and to keep him warm. The blanket from the Cave Rescue Bag was placed under Johnson's body as much as possible. The rest of it was draped over him. Several members of the party donated sweatshirts and coats to the cause.
"By this time I noticed that Johnson had started to develop the symptoms of hypothermia. He began shivering and would go into short periods of incoherence. Two carbide lamps were placed close to Johnson's head and upper body in an attempt to increase his heat supply. Johnson said that the light and heat that they produced helped him. We also gave him a couple of candy bars to increase his energy reserve.
"When the rescue party returned with hammers and chisels a knob of calcite crystals (nailhead spar) was chipped away. About seven cubic inches of rock were removed. Johnson then slid his body to the right and freed himself. He then spent about a half an hour resting and drinking hot tomato soup brought in by the rescue party. By this time Johnson was in very good spirits and he moved out of the cave under his own power.
Care should be taken when encouraging new cavers into tight squeezes. Should difficulty arise in any emergency situation, any person who panics should be removed quickly from the vicinity of the victim. First aid for hypothermia should begin early in a rescue. Carbide lamps, hot food, and extra clothing can be used to prevent chilling of the victim.
Incident occurred in the first week of August.
This record was last updated on 27th Apr 2024 at 23:11 UTC.