Caver trapped forever | The Nutty Putty Tragedy

when families gather for the holidays fun activities are often planned to make core memories together the Jones family decided to go caving at nutty putty but they had no idea of the devastating loss their family would suffer this is the Fatal breakdown of the Nutty putty cave tragedy Jon Jones was ready for some family fun when they decided to explore the Nutty putty cave in the Utah desert near Salt Lake City he had not been to this particular cave before but he and his brother Josh had spent much of their youth caving in a variety

of Utah caves he considered himself to be an experienced caver though his exploring had slowed down in recent years he had gotten married had a child and was currently a medical student at University of Virginia this made for a busy regular schedule which left little time for cave exploring during the Thanksgiving break he was returning home to relax with family for the holiday they planned a day of hiking and exploring at nutty putty which is considered a beginner's cave by most the main areas of the cave were interesting for everyone there was the maze room

which had openings and tunnels leading around large Boulders there was a large ramped area called the slide where the entire room sloped down at a 45° angle with a rope to guide you down this cave system was well mapped in most of the traversible areas there were also well-known areas that were more challenging like the birth canal or the aorta crawl these areas were tight and difficult to pass so only more experienced cavers would be attempting to squeeze through these passages even with the known challenges people still found themselves stuck in tight squeezes in these

tunnels nutty putty had just recently been opened back up to the public after being closed for several years because of cavers getting stuck in these difficult squeezes they were passable for some but others would find that their shoulders or hips would just not pass no matter how hard they pulled against The Rock after wedging themselves in the narrow space they were completely stuck requiring serious assistance to inch out backwards because of these rescues a new permit style entry was required listing two experienced cavers per group Josh had obtained a permit for a group to explore

the Tuesday before Thanksgiving November 24th 2009 John's pregnant wife Emily stayed back at the house with their one-year-old daughter Lizzy to enjoy a more relaxing evening with the in-laws their group of 11 family and friends started off in the main open cave sections eventually John and and his brother Josh took two friends off to find more challenging tunnels to try they had heard stories about the birth canal and consulted the map for its location it was known to be a long tight passage with a particularly tight squeeze near the end if you could just get

past the narrowest part there would be a small room at the end to stand up and turn around they knew that the birth canal would be tight and could be Panic inducing even for experienced cavers they spread out to try to find this particular tunnel John and Josh took the passage on the left moving through a small tunnel for around 15 ft it undulated up and down in several elevations over the next 10 ft there were outcroppings of rocks and tight squeezes that required a caver to twist their body in several orientations to get shoulders

past then hips and finally twisting legs so that they Bend in the proper direction it was not a matter of Simply pulling your body forcefully through a tight hole this area was called the cork screw because the few who had been through it were small and flex ible using all their skills to maneuver slowly through the panic inducing contortions after the cork screw area the passage angles up for another 5 ft or so then turns down over a rock ledge with a sharp 90° Bend to the left up until now cavers had used this small

area after the cork screw to turn back on themselves if needed and head back through the difficult Section 5 years before a 16-year-old boy named Brock Clark was stuck in this cork screw section he was only 5' 7 in in tall and weighed 140 lb but got wedged when he was trying to turn around it took 14 hours for Rescuers to free him Jon was in the exact spot where Brock got stuck trying to turn around since Jon was 6 feet tall and 200 lb he clearly knew that turning around in this part of the

tunnel was not an option for him he was in a 12-in high space with not enough lateral area for his pressed body to ball up for a turn he pushed forward to the ledge area and squeezed over the top of it it was a tight area to get through but he thought he could see it open up down below he sucked in his stomach and pressed himself through the squeeze pulling forward on the rocks in front of him he would be moving head first in a downwards Angle now but it looked like there was an

area ahead to turn around John didn't know it but no one else had ever crossed over this ledge before he was in completely Uncharted Territory despite being in an extremely tight and uncomfortable position Jon kept his cool he was certain that there would be an opening ahead all along he thought he was in some part of the birth canal where many cavers had felt stuck in the constricting tunnel but ended up being just fine once they reached the other side once he passed through a tight Zone he started to slide toward the bottom of this

tunnel he was nearly doing a handstand trying to hold his body up and figure out how to push backwards he still couldn't turn and now he was upside down gravity was pulling his 200lb body against the fading strength of his arms he yelled out to his brother Josh and told not to follow him but to go back out they discussed his options and decided that moving forward to try to turn around was the best idea he was collapsing onto his shoulders and head at this point and needed to make a move to get out of

this vertical position his headlamp gave him a glimpse of a hole in the floor ahead which might lead to a larger space he felt a little more hopeful now thinking that they would be laughing about this misadventure over Thanksgiving dinner he made the slight turn and headed towards the hole exactly how he got himself into this tunnel hole is unknown it's thought that he may have slipped hit his head and became wedged in the tight space the other thought was that he looked in the hole but misjudged what he saw thinking it was an opening

and not simply a deadend Fisher either way Jon had ended up in a small opening in the bottom of this tunnel which was impossibly narrow just 18 in by 10 in not much bigger than the screen of a laptop computer Jon found himself wedged nearly completely upside down at a 70° angle he had spent some time trying to push himself back upwards out of this hole it was exhausting his arms were pinned in a useless position one folded under his chest and the other trapped on a rock down by his side he strained against the

walls and quickly realized that all of his effort would not move him back up 5T to the shallow tunnel his calves and feet were still free up in the passage but his legs were now wedged on the smallest side of the hole only 8 in wide he started yelling for Josh again his brother knew that he was trying to turn around so his yells were not a good sign Josh made his way back into this tight space and traversed the corkscrew path but unlike his brother he went feet first this time he continued toward the

sound of Jon's voice up over the ledge he finally came to an alarming sight he could see the end of his brother's leg sticking out of the rock as if it had swallowed him whole He inched forward until his feet could squeeze one of Jon's legs he tried to grip and pull up while Jon pushed from his end after several feudal attempts they were both feeling exhausted and frustrated Josh could see that this was very serious and they would need professional help to get him out they agreed that Josh should go get help and Jon

should try as much as possible to stay calm and relaxed while Josh went for help one of the other family friends went into the area to speak to Jon and let him know that he wasn't alone for several hours Jon just remained trapped upside down focused mostly on the chore of breathing the Fisher squeezed his chest where only shallow breaths were possible all of his efforts to move up had actually settled him deeper into the crack as time went on gravity continued to pull him against the rough walls of the tunnel tightening its grip on

his exhausted body once help had arrived the first cave rescuer Susie matah made her way to where Jon was stuck it was now 12:30 in the morning and John had been upside down for 3 hours Susie was just 5 ft 3 in tall so working her way through the cork screw area was much easier for her ropes had been tied to her ankles as a precaution in case she got stuck as well she checked on how Jon was doing and let him know that they'd be getting him out he must have had a small wave

of relief thinking that professional help had arrived and he would soon be free of this trap suie tied webbing straps around his legs and then fed it back to the pit where the tunnel started several attempts were made to pull on the ropes to leverage Jon back up and out of the fiser there was just too much friction on the ropes to make any effective release on Jon he was still pinned without the use of his arms to fully assist after attempting a few things and considering many aggressive options the decision was made to enlist

a pulley system in order to help lift Jon up and out a pulley had been successfully used when Brock Clark was stuck 5 years before even though they had a plan of how to help this was not an easy location to work in each piece of equipment would need to be brought in from the entrance which took nearly an hour to reached the other side of Corkscrew the tunnel was extremely tight and only smaller power tools could be carried in and out only one person could be in there to assist at a time and they

would need to be small or wiry to effectively move through the passage it was just not an ideal situation each pulley took an extraordinary amount of time to install during this time cavers were trying to talk with Jon console him and share stories to keep him calm and talking he was a devout Mormon and spent time praying and singing to seek solace in this unreal situation John had spent the night upside down and was showing signs of the physical limitations of the body to withstand this position the human body was not made to be upside

down for long the entire circulatory system is designed using pulses of pressure from the heart to move blood forward through the system while Valves and fibrous vessels would hold blood and stop it from going backwards this one-way flow balances pressure gravity and valves to keep oxygen available to all tissues and to remove toxins from the body through the kidneys Jon's body had been fighting gravity for more than 12 hours the brain was not built to withstand this kind of fluid pressure fluids were building up in his lungs and toxins were starting to accumulate from the

lack of proper circulation his organs were pressing on his lungs and each breath was an exhausting effort for muscles not built for such work his breathing was slowing and he was completely spent from the effort throughout the night he had gone from being completely calm and lucid to helplessly thrashing his legs and hallucinating it was excruciating to watch for The Rescuers they were helpless exhausted and feeling trapped themselves the air in this cave system was warm and damp it took a concerted effort to remain calmly breathing when you are restricted and can't move or even

breathe properly but The Rescuers knew they could get out when needed Jon didn't have that luxury he couldn't expand his chest to breathe and the air around him was losing its oxygen concentration little by little during this time a wired Telecom system was brought down to where Jon was stuck his wife spoke with him encouraging him to hang on and be faithful Jon assured her that he would be out with her soon it wasn't until 4:00 that day that they finally got the pulleys in place to move him Ryan shirtz was in the tunnel when

the system was ready to try Jon's body had settled into the narrow side of the opening so Ryan had to push his legs over as the team pulled from outside each heave moved him inch by in inch up out of the hole by this time Jon's legs were in excruciating pain a rope had been tied around his legs for hours as Rescuers tried various methods to help him out they were completely blue and had no discernable pulse yet each tug had him call out to stop as his nerves were Ultra sensitive at this point they

paused to give him a moment to gather himself and then tried again it seemed to be working Jon was finally being pulled up out of this hole he was raised enough for Ryan to look down to make Act ual eye contact with him and passed down a tube to drink Gatorade this effort was extremely slow goinging and they were all exhausted from the difficult effort Ryan was squeezed in a tunnel just 12 in high and had his head near Jon's legs as they worked him slowly out of the tight 10-in fisser although they were making

some progress in lifting him up they were no closer to getting him out his legs were hitting the low ceiling above his tunnel and twisting them into the passage was impossible he had no control over his legs now after 19 hours upside down without his help to delicately Bend his knees to the side they were strongly considering breaking his legs to get him back into the passage because time was running out for Jon then in a sudden moment of blinding pain Ryan blacked out when he came too he was bleeding heavily and Confused the Rope

holding the pulley to a natural Arch section in the cave broke and whipped the Carabiner and pulley directly into Ryan's face he suffered damage to his face lip and tongue as well as a concussion he had to get out of there quickly J was back where he started completely wedged in the tunnel with the circulation to his arms cut off and his legs completely dead he was unable to help free himself in any way this moment started the final demise of Jon Jones after Ryan was checked out in the pit and then sent off to

the hospital his father Dave took his place in the passage with John it took an hour to reestablish the pulley lines and Dave tried to tie a rope around Jon's body but couldn't get the Rope past his wedged torso so all the time Dave was with Jon he was not responsive this entire operation required Jon's help to effectively rescue him there was no way to lift his 200 lb 6-t frame without him pushing and trying to leverage himself in some way in Dave's effort to tie up Jon he got himself stuck for about 15 minutes

their desperate effort to help save this man had put both his son and himself in danger it was a devastating reality once he had pushed himself back into the 12-in tunnel he was exhausted and had to leave Brandon coales took his place and brought in the Telecom system so J's family could talk to him his wife Emily expressed her love and told him to take a break and rest after all of his effort she still truly believed he would be coming out but Brandon could see what she could not Jon was no longer responsive and

no signs of life could be heard over the previous several hours Ryan reported the gurgling breaths that Jon was struggling with now there was silence the rescue team gathered in the pit area inside the cave and discussed the situation it was determined that a medical professional would need to confirm that he had actually passed a paramedic was sent into the tight section to confirm what was suspected at 11:56 on Wednesday November 25th Jon Jones was pronounced dead the rescue teams worked for 24 hours straight to try to free Jon but it was just not possible

with his upside down position the Clock Was ticking and he just ran out of time John survived an extraordinary 27 hours in an inverted position which is three times longer than what was predicted as possible the six rescue Personnel who actually reached Jon in that Rocky prison were truly heroic they willfully placed themselves in a portion of the cave that was unmapped with many known risks they were selfless in their efforts maintained a calm demeanor and never gave up on a seemingly impossible rescue after they determined that recovering the body would be impossible Jon was

left to rest in the Ed's push section of the Nutty putty cave for eternity the entire cave system was closed off with concrete never to be explored again a plaque was placed there to commemorate the life of Jon Jones