Worley1 Cave is one of Northeast Tennessee's longest caves. With an estimated 35,000 feet of easy horizontal passage, it's frequented by Scout troops, church groups, and cave for pay outfits. On some days, over 100 people may be in the cave. July 17, 2011 was one such busy day when a young woman in a group of cavers and EMS personnel fell and damaged her ankle in a wet area called the Skating Rink. On August 6, perhaps even a busier day, a young woman named Kristi from Buffalo, New York, fell and suffered a trimalleolar and fibular fracture while climbing over flowstone in roughly the same area, about 2000 feet2 from the entrance She and her boyfriend John, who was on leave from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, had joined a tour group led by a local adventure company. The company had outfitted them with helmets and headlamps, but had allowed her to go into the cave wearing light tennis shoes. Kristi's ankle was splinted with materials at hand. John carried her, largely by himself, toward the entrance until another group ran across them and offered to help. They recommended backtracking and going out the stream passage to avoid the steep climb called the Devil's Staircase. This they did. In the meantime, a Scout group led by 2 experienced cavers, Gary and Clay, ran across them. Gary ran to the entrance and called me and the local authorities.
Local EMS quickly reached the cave and told me to put a hold on the caver callout that I had already initiated. Kingsport Fire and Rescue were on the road from a water rescue practice session. The Kingsport group, which is headed by a very experienced caver, had handled most of the heavy lifting in the July rescue.
The commander on the scene allowed cavers Gary, Clay, and myself, with Randy, a local EMS member, to take the Ferno stretcher and rescue kit in to the victim. We had gotten about 20 feet into the cave when Randy tripped and dislocated a finger. Rather than waste more time, though, he toughed it out and we found Kristi's group, recently emerged from the stream passage, about 1300 feet from the entrance. Considering the pain she was in and the cold and wet, Kristi was very calm. Though she rated her pain 9 on a scale of 10, she was composed enough to try to take a picture of her rescuers. James, a cave guide from yet another group, had replaced her makeshift splint with a light foam model. Randy replaced the small foam splint with a much heavier one from our kit and then attended to his own finger. I was disappointed to find that the kit had no blankets or other materials for handling hypothermia.
By now most of the tour groups had evacuated. While James, Gary, and Clay stayed with John and Kristi, everyone else headed for the entrance. Randy and encountered the Kingsport group coming in with new kit and a wheel for moving the Ferno fast over the relatively smooth ground of the first 700 feet of passage. They reached Kristi at about 4pm and set up an IV, giving her some morphine. Once we started moving again, progress was very fast. The Kingsport rescuers dragged the Ferno where possible, making much better time than they would have by carrying it. At the Split Rock, they mounted the wheel on the Ferno and made even better time. James the guide led the movers step by step over the easiest path. Having spent 8 hours in the cave that day, Kristi was out at about 6:30pm and quickly taken to a hospital for emergency surgery.
Kristi was still unable to walk 2 months after the accident. When I communicated with her in April, 2012, she was walking but unable to do the athletic activities she is used to. Her ankle pins were almost due for removal.4
My takeaways:
1. Tour groups should require ankle-protecting foot gear of their patrons.
2. Rescue kits should include blankets.
3. With minimal assistance from cavers, Kingsport Fire and Rescue is capable of handling cave rescue in Worley and other horizontal caves. Since most of their personnel are very big guys, I suspect that they can still use help in tight caves.
4. Though we cavers are generally predisposed to self-rescue, in this case Kristi would have been better served has she remained at the scene of her accident.
1 Also known as Morrell Cave, with perhaps 5 spelling variations, after explorer John Morrill, who died in 1956. History of Morrell Cave, by Laurie Adams, reprinted in The 2008 SERA-VAR Guidebook, p. 35.
2 Distances are estimated from the Bailey map of January, 2007, ibid., p. 37.
3 Email communication with trip guide, March 9, 2011.
4 Email communications of October 4, 2011, and April 7, 2012.Worley1 Cave is one of Northeast Tennessee's longest caves. With an estimated 35,000 feet of easy horizontal passage, it's frequented by Scout troops, church groups, and cave for pay outfits. On some days, over 100 people may be in the cave. July 17, 2011 was one such busy day when a young woman in a group of cavers and EMS personnel fell and damaged her ankle in a wet area called the Skating Rink. On August 6, perhaps even a busier day, a young woman named Kristi from Buffalo, New York, fell and suffered a trimalleolar and fibular fracture while climbing over flowstone in roughly the same area, about 2000 feet2 from the entrance She and her boyfriend John, who was on leave from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, had joined a tour group led by a local adventure company. The company had outfitted them with helmets and headlamps, but had allowed her to go into the cave wearing light tennis shoes. Kristi's ankle was splinted with materials at hand. John carried her, largely by himself, toward the entrance until another group ran across them and offered to help. They recommended backtracking and going out the stream passage to avoid the steep climb called the Devil's Staircase. This they did. In the meantime, a Scout group led by 2 experienced cavers, Gary and Clay, ran across them. Gary ran to the entrance and called me and the local authorities. Local EMS quickly reached the cave and told me to put a hold on the caver callout that I had already initiated. Kingsport Fire and Rescue were on the road from a water rescue practice session. The Kingsport group, which is headed by a very experienced caver, had handled most of the heavy lifting in the July rescue. The commander on the scene allowed cavers Gary, Clay, and myself, with Randy, a local EMS member, to take the Ferno stretcher and rescue kit in to the victim. We had gotten about 20 feet into the cave when Randy tripped and dislocated a finger. Rather than waste more time, though, he toughed it out and we found Kristi's group, recently emerged from the stream passage, about 1300 feet from the entrance. Considering the pain she was in and the cold and wet, Kristi was very calm. Though she rated her pain 9 on a scale of 10, she was composed enough to try to take a picture of her rescuers. James, a cave guide from yet another group, had replaced her makeshift splint with a light foam model. Randy replaced the small foam splint with a much heavier one from our kit and then attended to his own finger. I was disappointed to find that the kit had no blankets or other materials for handling hypothermia. By now most of the tour groups had evacuated. While James, Gary, and Clay stayed with John and Kristi, everyone else headed for the entrance. Randy and encountered the Kingsport group coming in with new kit and a wheel for moving the Ferno fast over the relatively smooth ground of the first 700 feet of passage. They reached Kristi at about 4pm and set up an IV, giving her some morphine. Once we started moving again, progress was very fast. The Kingsport rescuers dragged the Ferno where possible, making much better time than they would have by carrying it. At the Split Rock, they mounted the wheel on the Ferno and made even better time. James the guide led the movers step by step over the easiest path. Having spent 8 hours in the cave that day, Kristi was out at about 6:30pm and quickly taken to a hospital for emergency surgery. Kristi was still unable to walk 2 months after the accident. When I communicated with her in April, 2012, she was walking but unable to do the athletic activities she is used to. Her ankle pins were almost due for removal.4 My takeaways: 1. Tour groups should require ankle-protecting foot gear of their patrons. 2. Rescue kits should include blankets. 3. With minimal assistance from cavers, Kingsport Fire and Rescue is capable of handling cave rescue in Worley and other horizontal caves. Since most of their personnel are very big guys, I suspect that they can still use help in tight caves. 4. Though we cavers are generally predisposed to self-rescue, in this case Kristi would have been better served has she remained at the scene of her accident. 1 Also known as Morrell Cave, with perhaps 5 spelling variations, after explorer John Morrill, who died in 1956. History of Morrell Cave, by Laurie Adams, reprinted in The 2008 SERA-VAR Guidebook, p. 35. 2 Distances are estimated from the Bailey map of January, 2007, ibid., p. 37. 3 Email communication with trip guide, March 9, 2011. 4 Email communications of October 4, 2011, and April 7, 2012.
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