| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruno, Kevin | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Dible, Danny | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Black, Dave | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| McNamera, Greg | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
At 11 a.m. on June 12, 1982, Kevin Bruno, Danny Dible, Greg McNamera and Dave Black entered Roppel Cave, near Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. At about 4 a.m. (13th), after ten hours of surveying below the Rift, they headed out. At the ascent of the Rift, a deep canyon that cuts across Yahoo Avenue, Black was last. This ascent involves a 20 and a 46 foot drop, permanently rigged with a single piece of PMI. All four made it up the 20, Black finding that the upper ascender knot of his 3-knot rig was grabbing, causing him to have to force it up. This caused some fraying but at the top, all three strands of the 5/16th Goldline were still intact. Before starting up the 46 he retied the frayed ascender knot so that the worn place would not abrade further. The first three proceeded up the 46 and to the dry spot about 500 feet further on. Black went up. As he tried to cross the upper lip, however, the frayed sling broke. As he grabbed the rope to keep himself upright, the other two knots released, and he fell 'at nearly freefall speed' back down the rope. Black let go of the rope and wrapped his legs around it, slightly decreasing his speed. The other two knots then either abraded or melted off the rope and he fell free, landing on the bedrock shelf between drops in a three-inch pool of water. The force of the fall had been taken mainly by his heels and buttocks. After a minute or so he moved out of the water onto a mud bank. He could discover no obviously broken bones but it was very painful to put weight on his heels. His lamp and eyeglasses had been knocked off so he got out a flashlight and located the missing items. The lamp had to be reassembled but was finally got going. After more than half an hour the others returned and lowered a climbing rig. With this Black made it up the drop. It was so painful for Black to put weight on his heels that he had to crawl much of the walking passage to the entrance. The two miles took four hours; they emerged at 11 a.m. Sunday (13th). Black's injuries proved to be only bruises.
Obviously Black's vertical rig was inadequate. A vertical rig must continue to support the caver if one of its components fails. Even if the slippage of the bottom two knots was due to some action of Black's, such panic reflexes should have no effect on a proper rig. The main point here, I feel, is that parties should pay close attention to the last man in line, especially at a point where a serious accident may occur, like a vertical drop. The last man has no one still coming to help him if he gets in trouble, as others in a strung-out party would. In this case, if Black had sustained a serious cut, he could easily have bled to death before the others got tired of waiting and returned. A rule in caving should be: Always keep track of the person behind you. If everyone in a party is doing this, the party is 'together.' A lack of togetherness is a common occurrence in caving parties.
A caver fell while ascending due to failure of his vertical rig, resulting in injuries.