| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holladay, Ed | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Minton, Mark | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Powell, Doug | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Wilk, Lisa | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Doe, Mike | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Villagomez, Alejandro | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Bodenheimer, Hans | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| McWhirter, Mike | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Davis, Scott | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Pareja Reyes, Artur | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
In April of 1982 a group of 17 cavers was on the Huautla Plateau working on Sistema Huautla, a group of vertically-oriented, very deep caves, which are hydrologically, and in some cases physically, connected.
On Friday, April 16, six members of the expedition left to return to the United States. At five entered Nita Nashi for a one day push from the surface. Four, Ed Holladay, Mark Minton, Doug Powell (late 20's) and Lisa Wilk were to break camp at -600 meters in Nita Nanta and return to the surface that day. This left two on the surface.
At about 11:30 a.m. Minton and Wilk started out followed by Powell and Holladay. Past the 'blasted area', a tight place where they had to unpack and pass gear through, Powell took the lead.
At the 22nd drop, leading to the Narrows, he chose to free climb, with a single Jumar on the rope, sliding it along as he climbed, for a safety. At 5 p.m., partway up, Powell had a handhold for his left hand above his head when his foothold(s) broke. The safety sling was not quite tight and his weight plus that of his camp duffel (at least 30 lbs) came suddenly on his left arm, dislocating his left shoulder.
There was no immediate pain so he lowered himself to a ledge and called for Holladay. Holladay arrived and made two unsuccessful attempts to reset the shoulder. When Wilk and Minton arrived they moved back down two narrow drops to a somewhat wider place, some 6Wx12Lx10H, and set up a bivouac at about -330m on the stream-gravel floor. Further attempts to reset the shoulder were unsuccessful. Sleeping bags were set up on a space blanket and ensolite pads, with the cave stream flowing through the gravel under the space blanket. Wilk was left with Powell while Minton and Holladay headed for the surface.
Two hours later, on the surface, they found only Mike Doe, Ted Wilson and Alejandro Villagomez, an experienced caver from Mexico City. Several days worth of food, a stove and stove fuel were packed up and transported to the bivouac by Doe and Villagomez, arriving early Saturday morning.
Powell's shoulder had begun to hurt badly and he was unable to sleep. Some relief was gained through occasional massaging of the shoulder by Wilk. When the first surface relief arrived, Codeine was administered but did not entirely relieve the pain. Doe had a book that showed how to reset a dislocation but two or three attempts were unsuccessful. Then Doe stayed with the victim while Villagomez and Wilk headed out.
The crew from Nita Nashi had exited and were briefed on the situation by the others. Since Powell's condition was stable, they got some rest to be ready if manpower was needed for an evacuation. Minton and others took the expedition bus to Huautla to get additional pain killers and a doctor's instructions on how to reset the shoulder.
Saturday afternoon Holladay and Wilson took additional drugs and food and stove fuel to the bivouac. Powell's morale was by now a little low. His left knee, which he noticed as feeling sore the day before, was now red and swollen, extremely painful to the slightest touch. Vallium was injected for the shoulder and two hours later they attempted to reset it with no success. Holliday and Doe then exited the cave leaving Wilson with Powell. Vallium was injected every 12 hours and this allowed some sleep.
Meanwhile plans were made in case Powell could not make it out under his own power-calls were made to the United States to establish a rescue liaison and a call was made to Mexico City which would produce a doctor the following morning.
On Sunday afternoon Hans Bodenheimer, Mike McWhirter and Scott Davis proceeded in to the bivouac. Bodenheimer had been present at a previous occasion when Powell had dislocated the same shoulder and had it reset. When they arrived, muscle relaxants and antibiotics were administered. After two hours, with Bodenheimer and McWhirter in the proper positions and exerting all their strength, two attempts were made before the shoulder reset with a loud 'pop.' Only a dull ache remained. After a meal, however, chills set in and it became obvious that the infected knee was a serious problem, though the victim was now able to sleep.
On Monday the doctor, Artur Pareja Reyes, accompanied by Villagomez and Wilk, headed in to treat the infected leg. Four other Mexican cavers, two from the police and two from ISSSTE (Fire Department) had also arrived but were kept with the surface crew. Pain killers were administered, the arm and leg immobilized with heavy bandaging, and the victim started out under his own power with some assistance from his companions.
After four hours and six drops the heavily medicated Powell needed to sleep, so another bivouac was set up and eight hours of sleep obtained, at least by Powell. Fortunately the drops above the accident bivouac were well suited to the Texas method that Powell was forced to use, having only one usable arm and leg. He reached the surface at about 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20. The normal three hour trip had taken 14 hours.
This sort of accident could happen to anyone but Powell might be more prone to shoulder dislocations since he had suffered one previously. If one has a disability that can recur 'spontaneously' one might be careful to avoid situations that could lead to its recurrence. In this case, using his ascending rig instead of free-climbing should have prevented the accident. Carrying a load could lead to a shoulder dislocation in anyone if they are forced to hold with one hand when footholds break.
It is fortunate that Powell could leave under his own power-the consensus seems to be that an evacuation from this cave, with it's many tight places, would have been very difficult and time-consuming.
A caver suffered a dislocated shoulder and a knee infection after free climbing instead of using his ascending rig, leading to a multi-day rescue operation.