| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palmer, Algeline | Not recorded | Female | Fatality | Not recorded |
Texas, Devil's Sinkhole
Saturday, 15 April 1972
A group of nearly 40 cavers visited Devil's Sinkhole to practice vertical techniques and general caving skills. (Cavers commonly visit the pit in large groups such as this so as to inconvenience the ranch owner as little as possible.) There were seven experienced cavers in the group, but most of the other persons had little caving experience, although nearly all had attended at least one training session before the trip. Angeline Palmer, a University of Texas freshman. had twice climbed up a 50-foot training cliff near Austin. This was her first actual caving trip. "Seven ropes were rigged into the pit and most people descended to explore the bottom of the pit. There was a shortage of equipment available for the number of people present. as many of the novices did not own their own gear."
At approximately 2:45 p.m. Angeline asked to use a Texas prusik rig. She had practiced on Texas prusik before and knew that she could climb out. The top Jumar was attached to the seat sling with two short lengths of 1-inch tubular webbing. A bowline was used to attach the webbing to the Jumar on one end and to the seat sling carabiner on the other. A double carrick bend was used to tie the two lengths of webbing together. The lower Jumar was attached to a single piece of sling with a bowline for the foot. Steven Bittinger, a competent caver, helped her rig into the rope and visually checked her equipment, finding nothing wrong. About 20 minutes after Angeline had started her ascent. Craig Bittinger was lying on the edge of the pit and was witness to the accident. He describes the event thusly: She appeared to be moderately tired from the exertion involved in having climbed 100 feet. While she was resting on the rope about 30 feet down, / called to her. "Texas prusik sure is fun, isn't it." knowing full well how tiring the method is. She looked up and smiled. I glanced away for a second and then heard a small gasp and immediately looked back to see two Jumars hanging on a rope with no one attached to them. My eyes focused on down the pit and / saw her tumbling toward the bottom. / immediately yelled several times for the people on the bottom to look out. A tremendous thud followed. / then screamed to the people nearby, "Oh my God! a girl just fell in the pit."
"Don Broussard immediately jumped into his car and raced to the ranch house to phone for a doctor and an ambulance. An ambulance was summoned from Rock- springs (7 miles). but the nearest doctor was at the hospital in Kerrville (76 miles) and was not available at the Sinkhole. When the ambulance arrived at the ranch. a litter and two oxygen bottles were transferred to a Dodge van which had been pre- pared for the return trip over rough road back to the cave. "Meanwhile. everything possible was being done for Angeline. She had landed on her back near a large rock and seemed to be lying in an unnatural manner. Therefore, every precaution was taken not to move or touch her more than necessary in order not to cause any worse damage. No breathing was detectable so mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was begun at once. A plastic oral resuscitating tube available on top was sent down to facilitate this procedure and blankets were sent down to help prevent shock. Preparations were made to lower a doctor (should one arrive) into the pit. and a rope and belay system was set up to lower the stretcher as soon as it arrived.
"Thus prepared, the stretcher was lowered into the pit soon after the arrival of the van and the process begun of transferring Angeline onto the litter and securing her to it. She was carefully wrapped in blankets and then strapped down with 2-inch nylon webbing SO that she could be pulled out vertically with her head up. About 20 minutes elapsed from the arrival of the stretcher until she was ready to be hoisted. An hour and a half had passed since the time of the accident, during which time resuscitation attempts had been continued steadily by Richard Booth. "The stretcher had been multiply tied with lengths of 7/16-inch nylon rope and then fastened to a 300-foot length of Bluewater II climbing rope (noted for its non- stretch, non-spin characteristics). About 20 people on top were organized to pull the Bluewater, four persons were tied off at the edge to help the stretcher over the lip, and several more were stationed across the pit with a second rope to pull the litter away from the ledge as it neared the rim. "As soon as Angeline was secured into the litter, she was brought out smoothly and quickly. No more than 90 seconds passed during the ascent from the bottom of the pit until she was in the Dodge van. Resuscitation continued until the ascent began and immediately resumed when the litter reached the top of the pit. Oxygen was then administered on the way to the ranch house and continued until she reached the hospital at about 6 o'clock. Angeline was pronounced dead on arrival at the Kerrville hospital."
Analysis: "Although there were no eyewitnesses to see what actually happened during the accident, a thorough examination of the equipment showed that the double carrick bend connecting the two pieces of webbing on the top Jumar worked loose because of the jerking motion involved in climbing using the Texas prusik method. As Steven Bittinger describes it. 'At the time that I rigged her up I had no misgiv- ings about the gear. I had used the exact same system (with the same knots, etc.) in a recent club demonstration and before that at several deep pits and caves in Mexico.' This then was an accident caused by an unforseeable failure of climbing gear. "The accident would not have been fatal if Angeline had her hands on the rope when the knot worked loose and had been able to prevent herself from falling over backwards, or if a safety sling had been used to connect the lower Jumar to the seat sling. A third possibility, but one that is not quite as likely to have prevented the fatality, would have been for Angeline to have been wearing an ankle loop to pre- vent her foot from slipping out of the foot loop. Because she was wearing tennis shoes, it seems unlikely that this precaution would have been very effective. "It is unfortunate that the situation at the bottom of the pit encouraged the use of gear not incorporating all possible safety features. It is a good idea for cavers to have and use only their own climbing gear, but this is not always possible under conditions such as existed at the Devil's Sinkhole. The following suggestions are recommended to prevent similar accidents: "(1) The Texas prusik climbing system (or any other system) should never be used without a safety sling from the bottom Jumar to the seat sling. Foot loops should be well secured to the feet, and strong boots should be worn to insure that the ankle loops are an effective precaution. "(2) Any knot in a climbing rig made of webbing should be sewn shut or else securely backed up by other knots (such as half-hitches) to prevent the main knot from coming untied. Knots should also be checked constantly during climbing activity."
This record was last updated on 27th Apr 2024 at 23:11 UTC.