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The Art of Spelunking
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Many of you have probably heard about the medical student, John Jones, who became stuck in a Utah cave while Spelunking last month. The story can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/26/john-jones-cave-explorer-_n_371560.html
I was trying to understand how and why this person died, since he seems to be the first casualty in the cave since the 1960s.
From what I understand, he was crawling at a downward angle, at which point his path, sort of, flattened out or came to an 'L' shape, sufficiently wedging him against the rock.
John Jones was a fairly slender individual at around 180lbs, but he was rather tall at 6'0. I wonder if this was a factor, as well.
Can any of you provide some enlightenment as to what you think may have happened or perhaps some expertise on spelunking itself?
I was trying to understand how and why this person died, since he seems to be the first casualty in the cave since the 1960s.
From what I understand, he was crawling at a downward angle, at which point his path, sort of, flattened out or came to an 'L' shape, sufficiently wedging him against the rock.
John Jones was a fairly slender individual at around 180lbs, but he was rather tall at 6'0. I wonder if this was a factor, as well.
Can any of you provide some enlightenment as to what you think may have happened or perhaps some expertise on spelunking itself?
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I've been spelunking a few times in my smaller, fitter days (Deadhorse cave near Mt. Adam in Washington) and there are some really tight spot that you can get yourself pretty stuck in (one of them being the exit). I did get stuck for a bit getting out, but enough pulling and wiggling around did the trick for me.
I never heard of this cave in Utah, so I don't know really the part that he died in, but it seemed like he got firmly stuck. Perhaps he had a preexisting medical condition that contributed to his death? I'd be interested to see what the ME says what the cause of death was. It's a damn shame that he died, spelunking is fun.
Apparently he was having difficulty breathing, but stayed alive for over a day while they worked to free him.
It also sounds like they were familiar with this particular location of the cave and that, historically, it has been known to get other people stuck as well.
I was wondering if Jones did something wrong or different from other spelunkers to get himself stuck.
I'd rather parachute into a downtown area filled with skyscrapers. At least when I slammed into a building, it be in open space. Yeesh.
Pretty sure there won't be a detailed ME report. They are leaving his body in there.
The fuck? Why?
That's true. I forgot. They're not sealing it, per say, but merely placing a locked gate across the entrance.
Man, can you imagine the poor sap who manages to bypass that gate and comes across a shocking discovery?
Nevertheless, I bet they could get it out, or will get it out, once the body has shed some of it's girth.
Who would volunteer for that job?
Nevertheless, cave spelunking is fun. I can't wait until my next adventure.
Are they placing the gate to avoid further deaths or to discourage people from harrassing the corpse? Seeing as how he was the first person to die since the 1960s, I'm betting on the latter.
Yeah, I'm sure there are a lot of people out there thinking, "I bet I could crawl through that without getting stuck."
Not with that guy stuck in there.
Probably way too dangerous for anyone doing the rescuing.
Any time your body is stuck in a confined or unusual position for extended periods of time it's life threatening.
I assume an odd angle would cause your body and organs to shift in such a way that it would begin to restrict your breathing. I think this is what probably happened.
Really though, I can't believe they would leave his body down there. In fact, I don't believe they will leave his body down there.
A lot of kids left school and went to his funeral. I didn't really know who he was, so I didn't go.
Oh, the dangers of exploration...
Good read! awesome suspense and build up.