An exciting rescue in the state with "no caves to speak

[Ernie Coffman]

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Here's a pretty neat article...on a very lucky young fellow, during spring break:

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=4649163&nav=14RT

[NZcaver]

Here's a couple more reports of the same rescue...

FORT HUACHUCA — Rescuers painstakingly extricated an injured man from the farthest reaches of a wet cave in the Huachuca Mountains on Friday afternoon, 24 hours after he had fallen into a 50-foot pit. David F. Shipman, 20, a Duke University student visiting his family in Sierra Vista during spring break, was airlifted to University Medical Center at about 4 p.m. Friday. He was in stable condition Friday night....
http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/caliente/120689


David Shipman, freed from a 50-foot pit in a Huachuca foothills cave, is taken from a helicopter by members of the 305th Air Rescue Squadron and sheriff's Sgt. David Noland. (Photo Arizona Daily Star)

FORT HUACHUCA — David Shipman entered a little-explored cave Thursday afternoon, but it wasn’t until nearly 24 hours later that he saw daylight when rescuers finally got him out Friday.The 20-year-old Duke University student was home in Sierra Vista on spring break when he and two friends went into the many canyons of the Huachuca Mountains. Shipman said he wanted to retrieve something he left in the cave last year...
http://www.svherald.com/articles/2006/0 ... /news3.txt


Above, Garett Neubauren, right, prepares to suit up to take part in a cave rescue on Fort Huachuca on Friday. In the background, Scott Harpen checks Kelly Kirby's equipment. All three are members of the Border Search, Trauma and Rescue Team of the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. (By Bill Hess-Herald/Review)

[RescueMan]

Nice to have all those resources! But where was the local cave rescue team?

[NZcaver]

Nice to have all those resources! But where was the local cave rescue team?

Like in many regions, I believe Cochise County "cave rescue teams" are formed on more of an ad-hoc basis. If I recall correctly, I think Sgt Noland (who's in one of the photos) is the Cochise Co Sheriff's SAR coordinator, and does liaise with the local caving community. The Southern Arizona Rescue Association (volunteer SAR people under the Pima Co Sheriff's Dept) were apparently involved too. Last time I attended one of their meetings, I was told they have limited cave rescue experience - it's not a common activity for them.

Good to see all that inter-agency cooperation. Anywhere else it would be quite bizarre to have the military and the Border Patrol respond to a cave incident, but given the resources they have and the location of this cave - it's perfectly understandable.
It will be interesting to read the full report once it surfaces (pardon the pun)...

[Cheryl Jones]

Further details.....

Cave ordeal cause of gap in memory
Duke student fell 40-50 feet, got help hours later
By Tom Beal
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.21.2006

David Shipman, the Duke University sophomore rescued Friday from a cave in the Huachuca Mountains, suffered a concussion bad enough to temporarily affect his memory but broke no bones and injured no organs in his 40- to 50-foot fall.
He was released from University Medical Center on Saturday and was at home Monday with his parents in Sierra Vista, looking through family photos in an attempt to fill in gaps in his memory, said his father, Lt. Col. Gregory Shipman, a U.S.. Army Reserve officer who works weekly as a dentist at Fort Huachuca.
"He literally came out of this thing with a concussion and retrograde amnesia," Shipman said. "It's just absolutely a miracle that someone could fall 40 feet and remain in there 10 hours before anyone got to him, and then another 12 hours to get him out. We're just grateful to all those people who risked their lives," Shipman said.
A force of 170 volunteer, military and government rescue workers assembled to extract Shipman from the cave.
Gregory Shipman said doctors expect his son to fully recover his memory. He put off a planned Monday return to Duke, where he is a sophomore in biomedical engineering, to recover and receive additional medical treatment.
Shipman had entered the cave Thursday afternoon with two friends. They had ropes, climbing gear, helmets and headlamps for the exploration of the wet cave, which descends in a series of steep drops from its opening — a slit on a cliff face at the northern end of the Huachuca Mountains.
Gregory Shipman said he had been to the cave once but stayed in the first room because he doesn't have the climbing skills needed to rappel to the next level. He said just getting to the opening was arduous.
His son, who has been rock-climbing and caving for half his 20 years, is an experienced spelunker and had explored the cave many times.
Last Thursday he took two friends who waited in the first room of the cave while Shipman went off to search for some items he had left behind during a Christmas break visit, including a memory card for his camera. He planned to return and help his friends, who had experience rock-climbing but not caving, make the descent into the cave, said Gregory Shipman.
When he didn't return, one friend stayed at the mouth of the cave while the other hiked out and drove to where he could use his cell phone to call authorities.
When Gregory Shipman was contacted, he immediately called Steve Willsey, a family friend who was one of the resources Shipman used to home-school his son. He said his son had been caving with Willsey for about 10 years.
Willsey led rescuers and paramedics to Shipman, who was semiconscious at the bottom of the pit in the far reaches of the cave.
Shipman said he worried about broken bones and internal injuries, worried about his son going into shock or succumbing to hypothermia in the damp cave. "It was just a miracle," he repeated.
And about that memory card. It wasn't in Shipman's clothing when they brought him out, and Gregory Shipman said his son, who remembers little of the ordeal, is "99 percent sure" he didn't find it.
http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/metro/121033

[David_Campen]

David Shipman, the Duke University sophomore rescued Friday from a cave in the Huachuca Mountains, suffered a concussion bad enough to temporarily affect his memory
...
Shipman had entered the cave Thursday afternoon with two friends. They had ropes, climbing gear, helmets and headlamps

I would like to know what type of helmet he was wearing.