No injured cavers recorded.
On Thanksgiving weekend, 1981, 16 adults were on a caving outing in the Garrison Chapel Valley area near Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana. Ten had previous caving experience and four were Michigan Interlakes Grotto members.
On Saturday the group entered Trap Door Cave and spent two hours in thorough exploration. In exiting, two members had cleared the entrance and Glenn Anders was "almost to the stand-up offset pit.' Suddenly the wall of the stream gully at the entrance collapsed. Anders was met by three large rocks (1-400 pounds), one impacting his left shoulder and the others pinning his hardhat. In the encounter, Anders had drawn his legs up. In this position he had difficulty breathing and Don Maxwell, the next behind, helped him extend his legs.
A fourth year medical student was at the entrance in a party about to enter when the collapse occurred. He entered, loosened Anders chinstrap and examined him for injuries, finding only a "depressed area of his shoulder." The collapse area seemed to have stabilized so the victim was "talked" on out the entrance. Others had gone to Blenz's house for additional help. The thirteen cavers behind Anders had retreated out of the entrance crawl to an upper level room where they marshalled their extra food and lights in case their stay proved long.
Anders was taken to a hospital where examination produced no real injuries. Meanwhile additional help arrived, set up a block and tackle, and removed the smaller of the three rocks. The others were pronounced stable so the trapped cavers exited.
As Anders observed, it was a good lesson to all to carry extra food and light on all caving trips, even ones that look easy and straight-forward. He also makes the point that novices in a party should be well-briefed on initiating a rescue. In this case the two non-trapped cavers were novices and had to be told by the trapped Anders how to seek help.