| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hill, Terry | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
On Saturday, May 16, 1982, five cavers entered Ogle Cave in Carlsbad Cavern National Park in New Mexico. After four hours of exploring, they began to ascend the 185 foot entrance drop. The second caver going up, Terry Hill (25), was 75 feet from the surface and 35 feet above a sloping ledge that interrupts the drop, when a rock dislodged from a point 20-30 below. The rock, estimated to be "between 60-70 lbs" and "the size of a car tire," struck the ledge and broke into several pieces which showered on those below. Everyone dove for shelter and no one was hit. The rope was checked by Hill for damage and there was no further incident.
The rope had been anchored for convenience to an old donkey engine bolted to the bedrock near the pit. The wall down to the ledge at this point "is exfoliating and in spots (is) unstable and loose." The group recognized that the rope should be rigged at some other point to avoid this part of the drop. Areas of loose rock should always be avoided. If any other anchor point was available, the first man down should have asked for the rope to be re-rigged, assuming he did not already know of the rotten wall.
On ascent, if a rock is dislodged and may have damaged the rope below a caver, the safer thing to do is to pull the rope up, inspecting it (as was done here), or rappel back down, watching for rope damage, rather than make those below ascend at their own risk.
Terry Hill, along with four other cavers, avoided injury when a dislodged rock broke into pieces above them. The incident highlighted the need for careful rope rigging away from unstable rock areas.