Practicing Cave Rescue

Back in the Midwest, while Desert Boy got to have a vacation with his grandparents, I helped teach a cave rescue class. I started getting into cave rescue about 10 years ago and took a series of courses that led to me becoming an instructor for the National Cave Rescue Commission, which holds a national week-long seminar every year. 

This year we were in Indiana, which has thousands of caves in the southern part of the state. There are several different classes, and each spends time in the classroom and in caves practicing. I particularly like the in-cave exercises. There's nothing like a little mud, hard rocks, and tight spaces to make doing a rescue a little more challenging.

 
We practiced packaging a patient so that he wouldn't get hypothermic and then hauled him up.

There was also a team practicing doing lowers in case the patient needed to go down.

If gravity isn't in your favor, you need a haul team to pull the  person up, generally with some mechanical advantage because there aren't too many caves that have room for a huge number of people pulling!

Over the next few days I'll post some more photos of the seminar and a peek into a rarely-seen activity.

More Cave Rescue Practice

I've had time to sort through some of my cave rescue practice photos and here are some of the better ones. At the beginning of the week we practiced packaging a patient, something the students would repeat over and over in different exercises. The main difference of packaging a patient in a cave from a surface search and rescue is the extra insulation and vapor barrier that is usually used in caves to help warm the patient. Many caves in the U.S. tend to be on the chilly side, especially if you spend some time laying on wet rock.

Then we practiced some litter movement. Again, it isn't always as easy in a cave as on the surface. This technique is called pavement, when rescuers "pave" the cave bottom and send the litter over them. It can be used in wet, rocky passages where it wouldn't work to drag the litter.

After practicing some techniques, it was time to go to the obstacle course to practice some of the moves. 

I'm sure some people have never thought of a playground in these terms--and will never do so again.

The litter had to go through the monkey bars and out the other side.

Later in the week we went out to a cliff site to practice rope techniques. The hauling team looks like they're putting some effort into getting the litter up the cliff.

We used a variety of techniques and positions with the litter orientation and the litter attendant. Everyone agreed that having the litter attendant on a separate line makes the haul much simpler. In the photo above, the litter attendant (Wayne) is above the litter.

After the exercise, a couple instructors, Rebecca and Roy, posed for a photo.

And here are Scott and DJ, two more instructors.

Another day we went into a cave for some litter handling practice. Our first obstacle was the cave gate.

A salamander was hanging out below.

Then we walked down a narrow canyon passage.

In some parts of the cave, moving the litter was rather straightforward.

So the instructors (Bil and Jim) created an artificial wall to simulate a smaller passage.

Then it was time to try out the SKED litter in the canyon passage. It was a good workout for everyone.

In a couple days I'll have some photos up from the ten-hour mock rescue. Tomorrow is a more relaxing cave post.

2017 Caves

In a beautiful local cave with friend Teresa and kids

2017 was a terrific year for caving. I went in caves at almost sea level down in Quintana Roo, Mexico, and in a fumarole cave at the top of Mount Rainier, over 14,000 feet high. Plus many in between!

I taught cave rescue classes in Texas, Arizona, and Oregon. The kids and I went to the National Speleological Society (NSS) Western Regional at Lava Beds in California. I was part of the CavesLIVE project filmed in Arkansas. Plus there was lots of great regional caving, including some super paleontological finds and assistance with archeological projects. Cave clean ups included two lint camps and a trip to a well known Utah cave.

Here are a variety of photos. In order to protect some of the caves, I don't necessarily give their name (plus some I've forgotten!).

Surveying a cave in Quintana Roo by float tube (Photo credit: Frank Bogle)


Hiking through the caves is sometimes easier than hiking through the jungle; with Carol and Peter in Quintana Roo


Sunlight filtering through an entrance into a fumarole cave in the summit crater of Mt. Rainier


The Buddha: a landmark in a local cave. It's survived many inundations.

Lint camp is surprisingly fun and brings out lots of smiles

I still don't know how this helictite column formed.

Another cave pretty: a gypsum flower

A trip through the humongous Talus Room at lint camp

A hydrologic oddity--water spouting off to the side. Only happens during fast snow melt.

The beautiful Model Cave harvestman (Sclerobunus ungulatus)

Checking out a cool earth crack cave in Arizona

Stations at a Flagstaff-area cave during a Small Party Assisted Rescue class

On rope next to my brother Ed

It's over a giant snow drift to get into this ice-coated cave

A minuscule millipede, only known from one isolated cave

At the bottom of Nevada's deepest cave, admiring the ice

One of the ephemeral oddities at the bottom of the deepest cave in Nevada

With friends in Blanchard Springs Caverns for the filming of CavesLIVE  (airing in mid-February)

Amazing cave folia

A rare posed photo with friends

Desert Girl in a lava tube at Lava Beds National Monument

Desert Boy in Valentine Cave at Lava Beds National Monument 

A cave millipede

Unusual bones found in a cave

Admiring cool carrot-like stalactites

My good caving pal Doug, who I will go into any cave with

Who will solve the mystery of the ripples on the broken inside of a cave shield?

Cool speleothems

Louise explaining coral pipes

It's always a treat to walk in a Nevada cave!

Classic boneyard ceiling (eroded partially by condensation corrosion)

The lone stalagmite

Checking out more bones in a cave

In a cave with a lot of graffiti for a little cleanup

Bonny smoothing out some of the graffiti in punk rock

A cool cave beetle

We're looking forward to another year with more fun caving. You never know what might be underground!