| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackwood, Randall | Not recorded | Male | Not recorded | Not recorded |
In the summer of 1980 Roger Ling and Randall Blackwood were doing Surprise Pit in Fern Cave from the fourth rappel point, a 353 foot drop. Ling went down first, passing a knot about 100 feet above the bottom. Blackwood followed, with some foreboding since this was his first in-cave deep pit. Ling meanwhile had turned off his electric headlamp and was waiting at the bottom. About 150 feet down, the wall near the rappeller retreats and the drop becomes totally free fall. After passing that point, Blackwood quickly observed that his carbide lamp gave insufficient light to see a wall, even though it was producing a long flame. He looked up and down the rope - only darkness with a white rope leading into it. "Then I began spinning around the rope, then suddenly was upside down! I knew logically I couldn't be doing this, that my senses must be wrong. I quickly thought about the rack. no, hadn't stopped in mid-rappel and (rope) was feeding slowly. I yelled at Roger and he switched on his lamp... could see a wall the vertigo left. My heart slackened its pace and I made a smooth, easy rappel."
ANALYSIS: Vertigo is a very real condition and when it strikes it is very disabling. I know of one caver who suffers from it and cannot be suspended from a rope at any distance from the ground.