Fellow Cavers:
By a gracious membership gift from caver friends, I am now a member of the NSS. I have been the volunteer Cave Access Manager for the Nutty Putty Cave as well as the webmaster for the Timpanogos Grotto here in Utah. Serving with the likes of Chuck Acklin, Jon Jasper, and Cami Pulham, managing the cave has been an incredible learning experience. I look forward to interacting with the NSS membership and learning from the collective brain trust. For the last few weeks I have been the whipping boy for all frustrations related to the Nutty Putty Cave death and closure. Not being under the same gag order as the rescue personnel, I became the go to contact person for answers from cavers, press, and interested parties from around the globe. If there are any questions still needing answers, then I will gladly entertain them. But before you flame me for the cave’s closure, please first visit the http://www.NuttyPuttyCave.com website and review the information contained within the site. I am also interested in reviewing the chat about the topic on this Cavechat forum because there is a lot of mis-information and mis-directed anger about the caving death and aftermath. There is much to be learned from how the event transpired and ways that it might have been prevented before the caver became stuck, as well as what was learned during the rescue and cave closure process. And while we can no longer explore the Nutty Putty Cave together, I would love to spend time underground with fellow NSS members elsewhere.
Michael Leavitt - Orem, Utah - NSS#61917 - Michael@NuttyPuttyCave.com