Orientation to Cave Rescue, Oak City, Utah

In June I helped teach a two-day Orientation to Cave Rescue class for the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC) in Oak City, Utah. This class introduces cavers and first responders to cave rescue terminology and techniques. (The recent cave rescue in Thailand would be the other end of the spectrum--the super complex and technical rescue.)

We started with part of the day in the classroom at the Oak City Community Center. Then we moved out to the pavilion to practice some patient packaging.

I noticed that in the Thai cave rescue they were using SKEDs just like this one, except a different color. SKEDs are good litters for small spots, as you basically wrap a person so they look like a burrito.

The nearby playground gave us a perfect opportunity to practice moving the litters. We had obstacles, but many of the "cave walls" were invisible, making communications much easier than in a real cave. Students still had to follow the "cave passage," though, which included belly crawling and climbing and sliding down slides.

The second day was a full day mock rescue. I was to be an "angel," or observer for one of the patients. My job was to make sure he was safe. We headed to the cave ahead of the students, geared up, and headed into the little hole.

The students had three patients to find, and Rodney was the furthest back in the cave. It didn't take them too long to find him and start doing a medical assessment. They realized they would need a litter to carry him out.

The litter came and they packaged him in it. Since it was such a warm cave, he didn't want the full packaging of a vapor barrier (tarp) and two blankets.

After a bit, it was time to start moving him towards the entrance.

It took lots of coordination to get him out of the small pit and to the next team that moved him forward. Rodney is checking to make sure that I'm getting some photos. :)

Then came more obstacles. Even though the students were new to cave rescue, they did a good job of moving Rodney carefully through the cave. At the same time, other students were dealing with the other two patients. Plus a couple students were on the surface, running the Incident Command Post and experiencing the very different situations top-side faces.

 A communications system using military field phones and a spool of wire was set up, and that helped get some communications out to the surface.

A few more maneuvers, and Rodney was out!

Because it was a mock rescue, he was magically cured and then freed from the litter.

We held a debrief so everyone would know what happened in other parts of the incident. The lead instructor, Bonny, led the debrief. The debrief also highlighted things that went well and areas that need more practice.

It was a great weekend, and I was impressed how far some of the students had come to take the class. We had students from not only nearby Utah and Nevada, but also California, Montana, and Wyoming. Some drove 14 hours one way! Fortunately, they all thought it was worth it and are looking forward to learning more about cave rescue. It's a type of rescue that isn't needed often, but when it is, it takes specialized skills.

For more on upcoming cave rescue training, check out the NCRC page. There's also an annual national weeklong seminar (next May in Indiana), plus various regional weeklong seminars (such as next February in Texas), plus there will be additional Orientation to Cave Rescues and Small Party Assisted Rescue classes listed.

To read more about actual cave rescues or to report one, here's the American Caving Accidents page.

National Cave Rescue Commission Camp Goldenbell, Colorado

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I like caves. Early on in my caving career, I became friends with some cavers who also were into cave rescue. They got me interested, and over the years I took enough classes (four eight-day classes to be exact) plus helped with many smaller cave rescue classes (also known as Orientation to Cave Rescue (OCR) classes) that I was permitted to take the test to become an instructor. Over the years I've instructed a variety of classes, and this year I was able to help instruct the Level 3 class at the national seminar for the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). It was held in May at Camp Goldenbell, Colorado. (I think I mentioned before I was a little behind on some posting!)

It was my first time to help with the Level 3 class, which is more technical than the previous classes. Students had to pass various technical skills in order to be able to get into the class, as well as have had the Level 1 and Level 2 classes within a certain time period. We had a full class with a waiting list, and it was a great class! To see just how well they knew their stuff, one morning they were challenged to some knot tying. But not regular knot tying. This was with your eyes closed, or with just one hand, or behind your back (photo above), or with oven mitts, or with a partner. It was fun for everyone.

Soon it was time to head out to the cliffs to evaluate their skills and ability to work together. We did some basic anchors and hauls and lowers.

They did very well with all of that, so then we gave them more challenging problems. The colorful accessory cord and rope make it easier to tell what's going on in the photo below.

Everyone should be a pretend patient at some point, as it's a very strange feeling to be dangling on a rope, swinging in a basket.

The students were doing so well that we decided they needed one final challenge: to go down a boulder, through a hole in it, and up the other side. This would require the whole class (which had previously been split up) and be a communications challenge. The down and through part went smoothly.

 The up part was the most complicated. Here's a view of the litter still horizontal.

Then it was shifted to vertical. Then there were problems with some torque issues on one high anchor and some pre-tensioned (or I guess in this case, post-tensioned) backties were added at the last minute. And they succeeded in getting the patient to the top of the boulder again.

Since it was a cave rescue class, we wanted to spend as much time in caves as possible. The caves we had to work with didn't have large work spaces, so we split the class into three smaller groups and they had a variety of tasks to do, such as counterbalances, traveling hauls, and tensioned traverses. (If you want to know more about these things, in addition to taking NCRC classes, the books On Rope and Alpine Caving Techniques are very helpful). My camera didn't do great in the cave, so I didn't get as many photos of our cave days.

I did get a lot of photos on our highline day, when we sent a rescuer out to the middle of a gorge, then down to the river to pick up a patient, and back to the shore using a Norwegian Reeve.

 Can you see the rescuer?

After that very gear-intensive and long exercise, they were challenged to get me (wearing my harness) from one side of the river to the other using only two ropes and six carabiners. They did it in less than half an hour. Sometimes less gear makes things go a lot faster!

Then came the mock-mock day. We used part of Cave of the Winds for the exercise. All four classes (Levels 1, 2, 3, and TOFE) came together, and then were split into three mixed groups. I led one of the groups with a cadre of excellent instructors to one part of the cave, where we put on four mini-scenarios so everyone would learn more about how to launch a cave rescue and how to participate in various roles, such as communications (using old army phones, as seen below).

Finally came the culmination of the class: the mock rescue. This is an all-day event that the students solve with minimal instructor interaction. My role was to be entrance control for instructors going in and out of one of the caves used, plus to check the rigging used to take the patient from the cave entrance to the canyon bottom many hundred of feet below. It was a great spot to see people as they came to the cave.

The rigging was very nice, and after many hours, the patient was brought out of the cave and then taken down to the canyon bottom. The only problem was that a for real big storm came in, and the canyon is subject to flooding. So before everything could be derigged, we got everyone out of there as fast as we could. Some went up to the parking lot where we had started, others went down out of the canyon on a faster trail. But then they closed the roads for hours, and the two groups were stranded, bringing some real logistical challenges. The Colorado cavers did a super job of sorting it all out, and everyone got back to camp safely in the wee hours.

It was a super experience checking out the Colorado cliffs and caves. The students I talked to got a lot out of the class. Next year the national NCRC class will be held in Park City, KY from July 24-Aug 1. Other NCRC classes will be held throughout the year in various locales. If you like caving, I definitely recommend a cave rescue class, as it will make you cave a little differently--hopefully safer!

Lava Beds NCRC Level 1 Seminar 2016

I left my part of the Great Basin and went to the very edge of the Basin and Range province to Lava Beds National Monument for over a week in mid-September to teach a cave rescue class for the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). Every year the NCRC hosts a national seminar with a variety of classes. This year it was in Mentone, Alabama, but due to other obligations, I wasn't able to go. I was approached about teaching a Level 1 seminar at Lava Beds, and it all worked out, so I set out. 

Even though I spent eight days there, I managed to get very few photos (at least by my usual standards). I didn't even get one of the entrance sign. The first day I arrived I was very intent in trying to figure out what caves we'd be using for the rest of the week. Above is Ron in the culvert for one of the caves, one we ended up using for the mock rescue at the end of the week. It was a difficult entrance to negotiate.

 On Saturday we started with classes in Lava Bed's fire conference room.

But this is a cave rescue class, so why not do the Cave Environment underground in Mushpot Cave? The park uses the cave for school group presentations. We stuck around long enough for the Hypothermia lecture, which the 50 degree temperature made us feel a little bit more.

A big part of Level 1 is patient packaging. We need to know how to keep a patient warm in a litter and tied in securely, no matter which way the litter is being moved.

By Day 3, we were ready to head out to some short cliffs and practice moving the litters up and down. We had a station for using the Ferno, our Cadillac of cave litters, and another station for the Sked, which looks like an orange burrito but can fit in tiny spots.

We used a pike-and-pivot technique to solve the edge problem. After the exercises, some of the class went to the bottom of Skull Cave, which is one of 18 caves in Lava Beds that still has ice in them. Twelve others used to in recent history, but that ice has since melted. There are a whopping 700+ caves at Lava Beds!

Our evenings were largely consumed with doing check-offs, which is when the students show the instructors that they know the skills we've been practicing in class. Below is the comm station, where students hook up old military phones to comm wire and talk to each other.

Day 4 we went into Sentinel Cave to practice a variety of techniques, such as searching for patients, running comm line and operating field phones, anchoring, and doing some hauls and lowers in the lava tubes. Below, Tom knew how to make an entrance on an upper level, with the class below him.


It wasn't a very big drop, but big enough to practice setting up a mainline and belay and finding anchors that wouldn't move.


In another station, students found their own anchors, then attached a rope and rappelled down it. Over ten different anchors were used, which was pretty creative.

We all celebrated when Checkoffs were completed! Bill provided entertainment.

After a written test it was time for the mock walkthrough. We used Catacombs, a particularly mazy cave along the cave loop. Lava Beds has over 20 caves open to the public, many with staircases or ladders that descend down into the lava tubes. Then you can walk--or crawl--wherever you like. It's a cool experience.


The mock walkthrough is an exercise in how to run a cave rescue incident. Eddy's a pro at it, and we did five iterations so students could rotate through various positions and try out different roles in a rescue.

There were some humorous moments, like when the medic decided he better clear the airway of the drunken patient who was pretending to throw up. The medic was prepared with his glove. Oh, what we do for fun in cave rescue!

After several hours of practice, we packed everything up and headed back to the vehicles.

It was time to get ready for the mock rescue the next day, which would start at 8 am and go all day. The scenario was that a park employee took two others caving in a cave we hadn't visited all week. When they got to the bottom gate, it wouldn't open. One person got injured with a broken lower leg. The other two went back through to get help. One got hit in the head with a rock and was unconscious up on top of a drop. The other was wandering around, lost and hypothermic. In came the rescuers, who had to employ all sorts of strategies to get all three out.

We were in the cave so long that we had to use pee bottles, as it is not at all kosher to pee in a cave. There's no rain to wash the pee away, little wind to scatter the smell. Gatorade bottles are commonly used, but one must be very careful not to confuse a lemon lime with a pee bottle (it's been done more than once before!). This cave rescuer carefully marked the caps with skulls and crossbones and put duct tape around one bottle that said "Hydrate or die!"

Twenty-one students finished the intensive 7-day course, with up to 14 hours a day of instruction. Thanks to Lava Beds for hosting, all the instructors who volunteered their time, the staff who kept paperwork in order and cooked meals for us, and all the students!

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, check out the NCRC website for upcoming classes. Next year's nationals will be near Bend, OR from June 17-24.

Small Party Cave Rescue Class

 I like caves. I like ropes. And over the years, I've been fortunate to go to some really cool places that involve ropes and the underground. I've also come to understand how if something goes wrong, you need some really specialized training to get you back to the highway. So I've taken National Cave Rescue Commission training and enjoyed that so much I eventually became an instructor. I've been an instructor for a number of years now, and when a fellow instructor asked if I'd be willing to help out with a Small Party Cave Rescue Class, I said sure. This is a newer class that's offered and the first time for all three of the main instructors to try out this new curriculum.

We held the class in Logan, Utah, at the Cache County Search and Rescue building. It's a great facility, with a climbing wall corner and nice anchors.


There's even a door in the classroom that opens to the bay below, which makes for a difficult edge problem.

 But the best place to learn skills is where you have some real rock, so we went out to nearby cliffs the first afternoon and reviewed and learned some basic hauling and lowering techniques using minimal gear. I like using minimal gear, as that means my pack is lighter. The key is knowing your gear forwards and backwards so that you can use it in several different ways.

 We rotated students through stations, and I became the patient for a group. Above was my view as they pulled me up the cliff.

 Ah, such friendly rescuers!

Well, since this was a cave class, we spent the next couple of days going to a cave.

 Before we went in we had a great demonstration about placing anchors.

 Then we split into groups and practiced a variety of counterbalances, one of my favorite techniques for small parties. (If you want to learn more, sign up for some NCRC training--there's a national event coming up in July!)

 This cave had a pit entrance that was large enough for us to have several groups working at the same time.

 Down at the bottom we found plenty of snow and ice, which we discussed in length. Hypothermia is always something of concern in cave rescue, but in these caves, it's critical to get your patient warmed.

We did some mock rescues, and I had the fun of being pulled out of a pit a couple of times.

 The terrain we were in was absolutely stunning, and I can't wait to go back.

As I said at the beginning, I love caves and I love working on rope. But the thing that makes me willing to volunteer my time to do cave rescue instruction is the people. We have a great cadre of instructors and staff, and meeting students and seeing them progress is really rewarding.

So if you read this blog and you like to cave, get some cave rescue training. It not only helps you help other people, it also makes you a better caver. Contact me if you need more info.