5 ms·

Nutty Putty Cave is the most horrifying way to die I have ever read and I have no interest in caving after reading about it.

geocrasher 4y ago
Yeah. No thanks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutty_Putty_Cave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutty_Putty_Cave There's one worse, though... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Collins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Collins
- Mister_X 4y ago
  Both of those stories garnered world wide attention, but one of the positive unintended consequences of those tragic events was that they scared many "adventure seekers" enough that they stayed away from cave exploration, which is a "good" thing. About 30 years ago I became trapped in an alpine cave in a way very similar to Floyd Collins, when a football sized piece of marble fell from the ceiling about 30 feet into a virgin body sized phreatic tube I was exploring. It landed on my ankle, pinning it so I couldn't move forward or back, and the passage was so tight that I couldn't move my free leg to dislodge it, and yes, Floyd Collins entrapment was the first thing I thought of. Thankfully, I had two things in my favor, one was I had a caving partner on the surface who knew where I was, and I could communicate with, so if I couldn't self rescue she could hike the 5 miles back to a road end and get help (no cell phone service back then). And two, I was an experienced caver, so I remained very calm, and kept working my free foot in order to attempt to dislodge the rock pinning my ankle, and after about 10 minutes I was able to somehow with great effort, shift the rock enough that I could move deeper into the cave. I crawled forward another 15 feet to a pit about 20 feet deep that I was able to free climb into so I could turn around and head back out, and was able to push the rock ahead of me and I got out just fine. It didn't phase me one bit, as I'd had much more serious life threatening events in caves previously (almost "flat rocked" in Lechuguilla Cave, NM), but I was well aware that it could have been a serious situation as it got down into the 20's at night in that location, so hypothermia was a real possibility. The lesson here for non cavers is, don't explore caves alone, especially if nobody knows where you are, and get proper training before doing so, from a local "grotto" (chapter) of the National Speleological Society https://caves.org/ https://caves.org/ .
  - geocrasher 4y ago
    Sometimes I wish this was /. so I could give this +5 Insightful
    - Mister_X 4y ago
      Thanks for that. BTW, I've been hanging out at /. since it was "Chips and Dips".
      - geocrasher 4y ago
        I can't even remember how long ago that was... I started on /. in 2001 or 2002, UID is in the 473000 range :)
        Mister_X 4y ago
        Chips and Dips: 1997 And I have a beard, but not a neck beard. This place is more like the "old" /. and I like it here.
        Hnrobert42 4y ago
        Yeah. I have low-grade anxiety that at some point dang will retire or something will happen, like when digg imploded and reddit got popular. In the meantime, I enjoy these caliber of discussions here.
        geocrasher 4y ago
        /. already jumped the shark for me, back when it got bought around 2013. Around the same time that somebody forked the slashcode and started https://www.soylentnews.org/ https://www.soylentnews.org/ which is somehow still going. It just lost its luster. I was glad to find HN after that.
- ljf 4y ago
  The are brilliant YouTube documentaries about both. After a car accident a few years ago, I became very interested in stories of being trapped, I think as some way of dealing with my own experience. I'd sit up late at night and watch these stories in horror, being so thankful I'd been freed successfully.
  - SyzygistSix 4y ago
    Have you read Concrete Island by J. G. Ballard?
    - ljf 4y ago
      No I hadn't heard of it, but I need to now. I adore his work. Really need to read Crash again, loved that book before - will see if it hits differently now.
- jl6 4y ago
  I know it’s not a competition but Nutty Putty still looks worse to me, because of the upside down position and how they seemed to be close to pulling off a successful rescue only to be thwarted by the failure of the pulley system. The diagram[0] fills me with anxiety and makes me wonder if there was any chance of getting mining equipment to the site. [0] https://cavehaven.com/nutty-putty-cave-accident/ https://cavehaven.com/nutty-putty-cave-accident/
- sph 4y ago
  Internet Historian recently made a good documentary about Floyd Collins and his rescue attempts: https://youtu.be/Ip9VGZeqMfo https://youtu.be/Ip9VGZeqMfo
  - Hnrobert42 4y ago
    Well that was a fascinating, hour-long detour!

geocrasher 4y ago

Yeah. No thanks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutty_Putty_Cave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutty_Putty_Cave There's one worse, though... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Collins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Collins

Mister_X 4y ago
Both of those stories garnered world wide attention, but one of the positive unintended consequences of those tragic events was that they scared many "adventure seekers" enough that they stayed away from cave exploration, which is a "good" thing. About 30 years ago I became trapped in an alpine cave in a way very similar to Floyd Collins, when a football sized piece of marble fell from the ceiling about 30 feet into a virgin body sized phreatic tube I was exploring. It landed on my ankle, pinning it so I couldn't move forward or back, and the passage was so tight that I couldn't move my free leg to dislodge it, and yes, Floyd Collins entrapment was the first thing I thought of. Thankfully, I had two things in my favor, one was I had a caving partner on the surface who knew where I was, and I could communicate with, so if I couldn't self rescue she could hike the 5 miles back to a road end and get help (no cell phone service back then). And two, I was an experienced caver, so I remained very calm, and kept working my free foot in order to attempt to dislodge the rock pinning my ankle, and after about 10 minutes I was able to somehow with great effort, shift the rock enough that I could move deeper into the cave. I crawled forward another 15 feet to a pit about 20 feet deep that I was able to free climb into so I could turn around and head back out, and was able to push the rock ahead of me and I got out just fine. It didn't phase me one bit, as I'd had much more serious life threatening events in caves previously (almost "flat rocked" in Lechuguilla Cave, NM), but I was well aware that it could have been a serious situation as it got down into the 20's at night in that location, so hypothermia was a real possibility. The lesson here for non cavers is, don't explore caves alone, especially if nobody knows where you are, and get proper training before doing so, from a local "grotto" (chapter) of the National Speleological Society https://caves.org/ https://caves.org/ .
- geocrasher 4y ago
  Sometimes I wish this was /. so I could give this +5 Insightful
  - Mister_X 4y ago
    Thanks for that. BTW, I've been hanging out at /. since it was "Chips and Dips".
    - geocrasher 4y ago
      I can't even remember how long ago that was... I started on /. in 2001 or 2002, UID is in the 473000 range :)
      - Mister_X 4y ago
        Chips and Dips: 1997 And I have a beard, but not a neck beard. This place is more like the "old" /. and I like it here.
        Hnrobert42 4y ago
        Yeah. I have low-grade anxiety that at some point dang will retire or something will happen, like when digg imploded and reddit got popular. In the meantime, I enjoy these caliber of discussions here.
        geocrasher 4y ago
        /. already jumped the shark for me, back when it got bought around 2013. Around the same time that somebody forked the slashcode and started https://www.soylentnews.org/ https://www.soylentnews.org/ which is somehow still going. It just lost its luster. I was glad to find HN after that.
ljf 4y ago
The are brilliant YouTube documentaries about both. After a car accident a few years ago, I became very interested in stories of being trapped, I think as some way of dealing with my own experience. I'd sit up late at night and watch these stories in horror, being so thankful I'd been freed successfully.
- SyzygistSix 4y ago
  Have you read Concrete Island by J. G. Ballard?
  - ljf 4y ago
    No I hadn't heard of it, but I need to now. I adore his work. Really need to read Crash again, loved that book before - will see if it hits differently now.
jl6 4y ago
I know it’s not a competition but Nutty Putty still looks worse to me, because of the upside down position and how they seemed to be close to pulling off a successful rescue only to be thwarted by the failure of the pulley system. The diagram[0] fills me with anxiety and makes me wonder if there was any chance of getting mining equipment to the site. [0] https://cavehaven.com/nutty-putty-cave-accident/ https://cavehaven.com/nutty-putty-cave-accident/
sph 4y ago
Internet Historian recently made a good documentary about Floyd Collins and his rescue attempts: https://youtu.be/Ip9VGZeqMfo https://youtu.be/Ip9VGZeqMfo
- Hnrobert42 4y ago
  Well that was a fascinating, hour-long detour!