Utah cave deaths almost 1 year ago

[Wayne Harrison]

The one-year anniversary is coming up for the four people who died in a cave in Provo, Utah:

Original story:
http://old.heraldextra.com/modules.php? ... &sid=62444

Lunch benefits UVSC scholarship fund
In memory of pair: The program honors two students who died in a caving accident

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_4068482

Note: I am a month early on this. It was Aug. 18, 2005. I thought it was July 18. The benefit lunch was held today and that threw me off.

[Ralph E. Powers]

Almost a year ago. Wow. Lots of changes had taken place since. Boy scout council here decided that extreme caving was off the venue for Venture Scouts until a way to train scout-masters and a strict adhereance to rules set down with the help of cavers on how/when scouts can enter caves. Vertical caving is totally out on any sanctioned trips for any scout group.
Two caves were gated and placed under a management plan. One of them being a very popular cave that had once been visited by an average of 9,000 people annually.

I've a friend who was friends with all four of the ones who died in Gollum's Cave/ Cave of Death/ Whatever name. She told me that she known them pretty well, that they were not drug-users and only two of them were light drinkers and that she saw them the night they were killed and that she begged out of joining them an hour before they left. They were all sober.
She wishes that they had contacts with her brother-in-law who is an experienced caver of 15 years. She felt that if they had at least spoken to him they would've gotten some safety tips that might've saved their lives.
A map of the cave can be found here http://www.caves.org/grotto/timpgrotto/ under projects and cave map gallery.

Another friend was among the rescuers that found the bodies. His account is more sadder than any of those found in the papers/media.

The tragedy has helped raised an awareness of the potential dangers caving has to the uninitiated and unprepared. But still more can be done here and across the country to increase the knowledge that while caves can be fun and exciting places to visit that they must be treated with respect and caution. Murphy's law seems to like caving and cave diving the best as a source to prove it's point.

For the four: .