| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ames, Ronald | 16 | Male | Sprain; hypothermia | Ankle |
After school on Friday, December 12. 1980 Ronald Ames (16) and Robert Tabor (19) rode the school bus to Clarksville. At a grocery store they purchased a 12-pack of beer, three packs of cigarettes, and a flashlight with standard batteries to go with the one they had brought with them. They were wearing shirts, jeans and sneakers plus coats, knit caps and gloves.
Proceeding down the road and into a wood they entered the Ward entrance to 3000 foot long Clarksville Cave at 2:45 p.m., leaving excess belongings in Mosquito Cave, a small cave in the same sinkhole. A note was left on a log under a rock giving the date, time of expected exit and name and address of someone to notify.
In the cave they brought only the two flashlights and one coat. After looking around the Big Room they headed south toward the Gregory section, crawled through the Ward-Gregory link, proceeded down into the Slickenside Block Room and into the Bathtub where they got wet to mid-thigh. Going along Cook Avenue they passed the rimstone dams finally stopping at Brindley's Sump. After a short break they started back.
Moving along Cook Avenue one flashlight was dropped. Proceeding then as quickly as possible, they made it through the Bathtub and to the Slickenside Block Room before the remaining flashlight failed when the batteries went dead.
They were wet from the thighs down in a 50 degree cave and realized that they needed to get out if they could. With Tabor leading they searched the walls, looking for the passage out. This endeavor took them up a slope into the Pixie Passages. The sound of dripping water led them on into the Lost Rock Hammer (Root) Room. There they stoped and assessed the situation. They had left the note at the entrance and also had told some of their classmates of the proposed exploration and felt they had hope of early rescue. They decided to wait, periodically searching for the way out to keep warm.
Outside the note was found but only at 5 p.m., before the expected exit time, so no alarm was taken. After that it snowed and the note was covered, not to be found again until after the rescue. Fifteen to twenty cavers visited the cave that afternoon but the stranded cavers were not encountered.
On Saturday morning Ames was missed by his guardian, Doug Warner. Warner called around, finally calling the Albany police requesting them to check the streets. Shortly after that Warner heard that the boys might be at Clarksville Cave, so he notified the Albany County Sheriff.
Deputies went to the Wards entrance and yelled in, obviously not knowing how extensive the cave is. There was no response and no footprints in the snow so they concluded the boys were not in the cave.
In the cave, Ames and Tabor huddled together under the single coat, squeezing water out of mud to alleviate thirst. They had no food. They amused themselves and established that they were not going blind by throwing rocks against the wall and watching for the sparks. Time dragged on.
By Tuesday of the following week it had become obvious to Karen Boggs, a counselor at the High School, that Tabor was missing. She contacted Warner and expressed the opinion that the boys had not simply taken off on some trip and were in fact stranded in the cave. On Wednesday, December 17 she talked with Nick Viscio, another teacher at the High School, who was an avid caver. Viscio said he could get cavers for a search right away: Warner gave his OK and the calls went out.
Cavers called were told to meet at the Clarksville Super Mart at 5 p.m. With Bill Stevener (NECRO) coordinating, cavers on hand were: Tammy Hauser, Ron Sloan, Sue Field Sloan, Chuck Porter, Randy Draper, AI Hicks, Richard Schaefer, Joe Flores, and Pete Teresco. Also available were Bob Mayo and John Middlebrook, emergency medical techs with the State Office of Parks and Recreation. Two unsuccessful calls had gone out to National Cave Rescue Commission regional coordinator Warren Hall.
At 5:30 p.m. the first team entered the cave to search from the Gregory Entrance to Brindley's Sump. They exited 30 minutes later with no evidence that the boys had been in that part of the cave.
A second team entered at 6:15 p.m. to check all side passages from the Ward Entrance to Brindley's Sump. At 6:40 a third team went in the Ward Entrance heading upstream to check the Lake Room. They exited at 8:20 with no evidence of the exploration of the lost boys.
At 9:00 p.m. a Team Two member exited the cave to report that the victims had been found alive. One had a sprained ankle and both were somewhat hypothermiated with numb hands and feet. Their first comment was "Is Christmas over?'
Warner was notified, an ambulance was called and an evacuation team entered the cave at 9:25 p.m. By 9:45 the boys were in the ambulance, on the way to a hospital. They had been in the cave 5 1/4 days.
ANALYSIS: Unfortunately for these boys, they had a reputation for taking off on trips (spelled 'running away') so their rescue was greatly delayed. Otherwise this is just another repetitious chapter in the annals of flashlight caving.