| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paterno, Bob | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Earlandson, Ralph | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Valent, Greg | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Hartman, Ted | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Watts, Bill | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
On Saturday, June 12, a group of Windy City Grotto cavers visited Parker's Pit, Harrison County, Indiana, arriving at 11 a.m. This was the annual novice vertical trip, with Parker's the objective because of the drizzle, Parker's having a more secure lip than the original objective, Jug Hole.
Bob Paterno rigged the low side of Parker's, a 105 foot drop with 330 feet of PMI. This ran to the right of a six inch diameter tree at the lip and back 50 feet to the rig point, a tree. A rope pad was rigged to a Jumar on the main line about five feet from the lip. There was insufficient webbing to rig the pad to a tree.
At the top, everyone was getting their rappel rigs on while Ralph Earlandson, the most experienced, was helping a novice to construct a climbing system. Greg Valent, the third experienced vertical caver, headed for Borden's Pit, 300 feet away, to rig it.
Ted Hartman (32) got his gear on, and went to the rope. He pulled the rope up four or five feet, to get below the Jumar, and applied a rack, using all five bars. While doing this he did not at any time inform Earlandson, the only really experienced one left on top, that he was getting ready to descend.
As he tried to back down the slope toward the lip, he had trouble getting the rope to move through the rack. Bill Watts, who was watching, suggested removing a bar. This was done but he was still struggling back toward the lip, feeding rope through the rack. At the lip, he jammed the bars up, readjusted the pad, and stepped down to a ledge three feet below the lip. It was now 11:30 a.m.
Leaning back at a 30 degree angle, he tugged on the rack with both hands, spreading the bars. Suddenly his feet slipped off the ledge precipitating him into an uncontrolled descent. Watts saw the fall and yelled "Belay!"
On the bottom, Paterno "heard something" then the "zip" of the fall. He grabbed for the rope, and started to pull in slack. The rope became tight in his hands at the same time as Hartman hit the bottom.
The victim came to rest with the rack supporting the upper part of his body about ten inches above the floor. There was no movement. His eyes stared straight ahead. Paterno ran to him, held up his head and called to him. After a minute Hartman groaned; after five minutes he became coherent and tried to sit up. Paterno stopped him and checked for "motor control" in all four extremities. Then he helped him out of the fall line.
To get a better opinion on injuries, Paterno yelled to to those above to send Watts, a CPR, down. Watts came down and checked the victim who appeared to be OK except that he was in pain and felt cold. They covered him with a plastic bag and positioned him in contact with Watts. Paterno ascended at 11:50 a.m.
Greg Valent ran to the nearest house and called NCRC. Earlandson descended with water, a sweater and another plastic bag. The victim was covered, with a carbide lamp for a heat source. At 12:20 p.m. a sleeping bag, first-aid kit and blanket was sent down. The sleeping bag was placed under him, the blanket over him and the sweater served as a pillow. Meanwhile the victim's breathing was short, painful and labored, with pulse fluctuating between 60 and 100. Otherwise he was stable.
At 1:15 the police arrived and were informed of the victim's condition and need for a litter. A rope meanwhile was rigged for hauling. The litter arrived at 2 p.m. A police radio was sent down also, to aid communications.
The lift began with the victim assuming a vertical position as soon as he cleared the floor. This caused intolerable chest pain and he was lowered again. However, he steeled himself and when ready, was raised to the lip three feet at a time, apparently using the available manpower. Paterno ascended a fixed line with the victim to watch his condition and maneuver the litter.
At the lip a rigid stretcher was eased under Hartman and used to lever him over the lip. He was immediately given oxygen since it was obvious he was having trouble breathing. He was carried to an ambulance and thus to a hospital. He had two fractured ribs but no other injuries.
A grotto committee looked into the accident, offering the following.
The rib injuries apparently were caused by striking a ledge 30 feet down-the only bruises were to the rib cage. If is felt that the fall was arrested just before the bottom, either by Paterno's bottom belay or by the rack jamming. All Hartman remembers is "going fast, trying to jam up the bars, with both hands on the rack" before losing consciousness. The bottom belay might have been completely effective if Hartman had communicated the start of his rappel.
The accident, of course, resulted from Hartman's faulty rappel technique. One should never take the braking hand off the rope unless you have tied off the rappel-either around your leg or around the rack. Still, the start of a rappel is sometimes very tricky and it is easy to forget and release the braking hand while maneuvering
Novices should be supervised but absolute control is impossible. Really, it is the novice who should make sure he is supervised.
A novice caver initiated a rappel descent without proper communication and fell due to faulty technique, resulting in two fractured ribs.