NEWS FLASH- Man Stuck in Nutty Putty Cave

[Iceaxe]

my interpretation is that this means the bolt pulled....

x2

I'm been in that section of the cave, its very tight and very little room for SAR to work in. Placing any bolt would be very difficult. Placing a bolt in an ideal location was probably impossible.

[Last Child]

This really sucks.

Officials halt efforts to remove body from cave

November 27th, 2009 @ 2:39pm
By John Hollenhorst

UTAH COUNTY -- Officials announced Friday they had called off any further efforts to remove the body of a man who got trapped in the Nutty Putty Cave. They also said the cave would be permanently closed.

"The decision has been made that there will be no further effort to remove John Jones' body from the Nutty Putty Cave, said Sgt. Spencer Cannon with the Utah County Sheriff's Office during an afternoon press conference.

John Jones died late Wednesday night after being trapped in the caves for more than 27 hours. Rescuers worked furiously to get him out -- but in the end ran out of time.

Cannon said Jones' body was stuck in an unnamed passageway about approximately 100 feet down and 400 feet from the entrance of the cave. They initially said he was stuck in an area known as Bob's Push, which turned out to be incorrect. Cannon said the area was too dangerous and the risk too high for recovery efforts to continue.

"Where he is trapped, he is on a bend, so there's no way to really get a hold on him to be able to pull directly straight back," said Sgt. Eldon Packer with the Utah County Sheriff's Office.

Officials also announced a decision to permanently close all access to the Nutty Putty Cave. They did not say how they planned to seal it off yet.

The announcement came after a meeting early Friday, which included Jones' family. Cannon said the decision was reached with the family's input.

[DiscGo]

Crazy!

I feel much worse for his family not being able to give him a proper burial then I do for the loss of the cave. It really is very tragic.

[CarpeyBiggs]

wow. i'm literally speechless.

[Sombeech]

Dang, it just keeps getting worse, even after he's passed away.

[jumar]

jumar beat both of you

Yeah... but he put it down where very few will read it.

Yeah apparently...

[accadacca]

I cant imagine being stuck in there. It must have been awful for this poor guy. I am not sure who had it worse, him or his family. I am semi-claustrophobic and I cant imagine what he was going through. Of course his family and poor wife on the surface and to have him never come out must have been traumatic. My prayers are with the family and rescuers. I just cant imagine what they went through. Horrible.

[jman]

Wow, so now with Nutty Putty being closed, I wonder if they will backhoe the cave with tons of dirt, making it a memorial? That would be the logical thing, next to recovering his body that is.

Wow, that's so sad.

[Scott Card]

Oh man...... this thing has really put a cloud over Thanksgiving. I have been following this since the start like most of you. I am so sad for this family and now not to have a body to bury. It is truly amazing just how perfectly bad this whole thing turned out. So sad.

[tallpaul]

Just out of curiosity where exactly was he stuck? Is Bob's push before or after the birth canal? Is it the squeeze right before you get into that room where the birth canal starts (i.e. the room where you climb throuh the hole in the ceiling to get up into the canal)

[jman]

Just out of curiosity where exactly was he stuck? Is Bob's push before or after the birth canal? Is it the squeeze right before you get into that room where the birth canal starts (i.e. the room where you climb throuh the hole in the ceiling to get up into the canal)

Inital cave rescuers said that John was in Bob's Push, but then later retracted that and said that he was in a "unmapped" area in that same area.

[jumar]

Made national news
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...s_of_life.html

[Iceaxe]

Utah cave to entomb spelunker
Tragedy

[Iceaxe]

I'm really against sealing the cave, I can understand sealing the finger he is trapped in if body recovery is not possible, but sealing the entire cave is a crime to me. To me caves are a natural treasure and should not be destroyed.

So.... If a climber falls from the top of Delicate Arch should we bulldoze the arch so others will not die going somewhere they don't belong? I'm sure that I am perching to the choir when I say the outdoors are dangerous and people are going to die playing in the outdoors, it is to be expected.

[DiscGo]

I agree with you Shane. I feel like a jerk for having the thought but I hate that other people's recklessness or even just bad fortune results in everyone else losing out.

Again, I feel horrible for this guy and his family but people are going to get hurt no matter what you do. In this case the guy was more likely to die on the drive out there than he was in the cave. Should we outlaw cars? That woman died yesterday on Delicate Arch. Should we destroy every trail or mountain that is dangerous? I could go on with my rant here but in the end, I feel like sealing off the part where his body is located is a much better option than the whole cave.

[Cirrus2000]

"Ditto" - from The Choir.

The quote from Josh Jones: But "we feel it would be John's will to protect the safety of future cavers," he said.

Really? He got to do it, and got over his head, so you assume that he would not want others to be able to enter even the easier parts of the cave?

By all means, close off the area he's in (for the simple fact that there are people morbid enough to go hunt for him - and, of course, he will be decomposing for a while, which is an ugly but inescapable fact) but leave the rest open.

[DiscGo]

It was a memorial for a young man left trapped in a Utah County cave after his death in a spelunking accident, but John Jones' family on Saturday found itself comforting those who had tried to save him.

While recounting his son's commitment to his church and his faith in spiritual redemption after death, father Leon Jones implored search-and-rescue team members not to despair. He asked for a show of hands from the rescuers, and called them "part of our family."

"It was John's time to go. You were not meant to be successful on this one," Leon Jones said. "We love you and we're so thankful for you."


http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13885805?source=rss

[jumar]

So.... If a climber falls from the top of Delicate Arch should we bulldoze the arch so others will not die going somewhere they don't belong? I'm sure that I am perching to the choir when I say the outdoors are dangerous and people are going to die playing in the outdoors, it is to be expected.

Or someone falling off Angel's Landing...

[denaliguide]

get his body out. if it means going in with a jackhammer and 700' of air hose, so be it, chisel away. i'm sorry he died and feel for his family, but i hate to see it be a situation where one guy screws it up for everyone else. closing the cave seems like such a lame and kneejerk reaction.

[errinevans]

This came from a rescuer from the site:



"The press coverage has been very accurate, especially considering that they could not see really any of what was going on. I would like to clear up one thing however. Several news outlets have reported that John was "free" and then the rigging failed, sending him back to where he started. This is incorrect. When the redirect popped, John was still several hours from being "free". I estimate he was probably 2 hours of hauling and squeezing from where he would have been able to sit up. The haul systems ran through a twisting passage, requiring pulleyed redirects at each corner, four in all. As far as I can tell, the last one was set up on a natural anchor. It was very near the patient, one bend beyond where I could fit. I believe it was the anchor itself that blew, not the rope or cord as reported. The rescuer was actually hit in the face with two rescue pulleys and two carabiners.

While this setback was definitely the turning point of the rescue, John probably lost about two feet of progress as a result. Rescuers had already moved him a ways up the passage in the 15 or so hours before this. He was still a long way from being free, even without the blowout. Once the rigging was rebuilt with better anchors, by this time John was too exhausted to help us, rendering the setup useless. We were hauling him into a tight spot, with only his feet visible. He was head-down for 24 hours, with no way to turn him, and the clock beat us."