No injured cavers recorded.
On Sunday, October 15, Gary Moss and Dick Sears visited Johnson's Crook Cave north of Huntsville, Alabama. They found the narrow, twisting, 20-foot entrance drop rigged with two cable ladders, two Bluewater ropes and a ragged, rotten, knotted hemp rope. Rigging their own Bluewater, they entered. They soon encountered the two kids who had rigged the hemp rope and joined up for a few hours exploration. When they decided to leave, they found all other groups gone. The kids insisted on using their rope but evidently had not actually tried their method. Hand-over-hand, neither could get up more than 10 feet. With the novices borrowing some vertical gear and receiving some instruction, all four made it out by nightfall.
Analysis: If the two novices had been alone, they would have been trapped. The difference in technique, in this example and others, between cavers in contact with the "organized" caving scene and those entirely self-notivated and out of touch with that scene is amazing.
2 youths couldn't climb their rope. Others in cave loaned gear. Heading says GA, text says AL. Huntsville Grotto Newsletter 20(4) p37.
This record was last updated on 27th Apr 2024 at 23:11 UTC.