| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Werner, Jesse | 24 | Male | Death | Not recorded |
On June 18, 1971, Werner Jesse (24), an experienced pit caver with no grotto affiliation, arrived at the Cliff Entrance and prepared to lower photographic equipment down a pit to Michael Selna and Raymond Rodrigue who had entered the cave at a lower entrance and were at the foot of the pit below him.
Selna and Rodrigue were planning to photograph Jesse's rappel after all the equipment had been lowered. Two bags of photographic equipment were lowered and untied then, after raising the rope, Jesse started to tie on the last bag. He was standing on an 18 inch flat ledge, 146 feet from the bottom. The two below heard a rumble. They dashed to the wall but before they reached it, the bag containing over $1500 worth of photographic equipment had smashed with a roar onto the rocky floor. They looked up and called to Jesse. There was silence. Rodrigue turned and saw a broken and torn body only five feet away. Jesse had obviously died instantly.
Rodrigue estimates that the falling body missed him by only 2 feet. Deeply shaken by the sudden tragedy, Rodrigue and Selna started for help. Before reaching the entrance, however, they met a group of cavers from Diablo and Sierra Mojave Grottos on a joint caving trip. Two of these cavers went to Grant Grove to notify park authorities and obtain a stretcher. The body was placed in the stretcher and eventually lifted to the top. The unpleasant task was made even more difficult by narrowness and overhang near the top of the pit.
It took over six hours to remove the body from the cave. Rodrigue recalls that Jesse had an ear operation a couple of years before. He was bleeding from the ears the night before the accident and had placed cotton swabs in his years before going into the cave. Rodrigue suspects that this night have resulted in a loss of equilibrium or a temporary blacking out.
(Blanchard) This tragedy simply underscores the absolute necessity of being alert and tied in whenever possible when near the top of the pit.
(Anderson) Whether or not Jesse's ear problem caused the fall, he should not have been in the cave with any medical problem.
Werner Jesse fell from the top of a 146 drop whilst attempting to lower equipment to cavers below. He is assumed to have died instantly. The falling body missed striking another caver by only 2 feet.