I enjoy adventure and new experiences. But of all the things I’d love to try, caving is something I would rather steer clear from, and I’ll give you some insight into why I feel this way.
I came across a YouTube video a while ago of a man by the name of Ruhi Cenet who posted a video documenting his journey to “the center of the Earth”, where he found himself 7,297 ft underground and losing an astonishing 10kg on the way down (which took 8 days, by the way.)
I was so intrigued with caving after watching this video… “Jeez, that’d be so cool to try!” I thought. Imagine exploring the beauty of Earth from deep within its depths. What I didn’t think about, however, is that just like anything else in life, caving comes with its own set of risks, ones which are sometimes overlooked even by the pros.
You Can Get Stuck
Not something that initially crossed my mind until “cave diving gone wrong” videos would show up on my feed. Imagine getting wedged between rocks, unable to move and struggling to breath. Or, to make matters worse, imagine getting stuck in an inverted position. This is exactly what happened with the Nutty Putty Cave incident.
The name of the cave doesn’t sound terrifying, but stories like this one are bound to keep you away from cave diving any time soon.
In 2009, a young cave diver went into the Nutty Putty Cave to explore – which he was generally familiar with, as he had explored it a few times before. The diver, by the name of John Edward Jones, wanted to try exploring the namely “Birth Canal” of the cave. However, as he ventured further into the cave, he took a wrong turn opposite from the Birth Canal, not realizing the fatal mistake he had just made.
Entering into the uncharted area of the cave had him venturing some +100 ft below ground level, in a very narrow space, about 10 inches high and 18 inches wide – that’s about the size of the opening of a laundry machine. Trekking forward, John found himself heading downhill head-first into the narrowest section of the cave yet. To his shock, he got wedged between the edges of the canal as he tried pushing through, leaving him stuck in an inverted position (upside down) causing immense strain on his body.
After a tiresome rescue attempt which lasted a total of 27 hours, Jones was pronounced dead due to suffocation and cardiac arrest. Since then, The Nutty Putty Cave has been sealed off to the public, and it serves as Jones’s gravesite, as his body was unable to be retrieved from the small canal. Some say that the medical staff on sight considered medically breaking his legs in an attempt to wiggle him out of the narrow squeeze, but decided not too, as his body was already under exorbitant amounts of stress.
For more on the Nutty Putty case, click here.
Hypothermia
William Floyd Collins, otherwise referred to as the “Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known” succumbed to hypothermia in the Mammoth Cave National Park.
In 1925 while on a mission to enlarge a small passage in Sand Cave, Collins became trapped about 55m below ground level. For four days, rescuers brought him food and water whilst trying to get him out of the wedge. Before a rescue team could get to him, a rock fell, blocking off the entryway to the passage, cutting him off from the rest of the world. Three days before a rescue team reached Collins, after having suffered for 14 days in total, he succumbed to his injuries, and passed from dehydration, starvation, and hypothermia.
Earthquakes
Earthquakes are terrifying as is; can you imagine yourself in a cave as an earthquake happens?
As shocking as it sounds, this phenomenon has occurred to multiple cavers before. While some experts believe it actually may be the safest to be in a cave during an earthquake as opposed to on land, that doesn’t erase the fact that it is a terrifying experience nonetheless.
Professional cave divers have experienced the quakes below the ground, and for most, aside from the shaking of the ground and walls around them, cavers have experienced sounds so loud that they imitate an aircraft is passing by them. Sounds become louder and fading away, sort of like a doppler effect deep within the caves.
While it’s considered generally safe, the constant shakes, loud noises, occasional rock falls, and quickly congested air space make experiencing an earthquake within the Earth itself one of the most horrific things you can experience while cave diving… another exemplary reason why you should not go at all.
Fatigue, inexperience, panic, solo ventures, falling, slipping, inadequate equipment (especially for someone swimming in caves), floods, starvation, dehydration, hypothermia, and dirty air in pockets are just some of the reasons why I would NEVER try or recommend cave diving.
As beautiful as I’m sure that Mother Earth is and as thrilling as it may be to explore her inner beauty, it is a dangerous bout. Unless you’ve got professional training, and even with professional training, your fate and survival rate is based on multiple factors, but essentially, your own experience being the most important of them all. I cannot imagine how claustrophobic it must be within the depths of some of these caves, so props to those which have successfully ventured and overcome the challenges of cave diving, and RIP to those who have tried to experience the beauty of Mother Nature with their own eyes.