Some situations are simply not survivable, no matter who the rescuers are or how they are trained or what equipment they have.
I have had the opportunity to talk at length with some of the cavers who were there, and who were in the cave for many hours working to free John Jones, and I have concluded for my own belief that this was probably a non-survivable incident from the very beginning. We can never know for sure, of course, but I have been involved in cave rescue for almost 30 years and after hearing the details from people who were there in the cave, I can't think of anything that they could have done or tried to do that would have made any difference. It's terribly sad, but that's just how it goes sometimes. I have seen similar situations before. They are heartbreaking, but they do happen.
There are a number of situations in which a caver can be at great risk of death or serious injury simply by being stranded or immobile. For example, being suspended head-down for a prolonged period can also be fatal. So can being suspended immobile in a seat harness. And as we have seen in a number of cases, being stuck in a tight passage for an extended period places a caver a great risk of death by hypothermia. If one of these situations occurs and no one can get to the stranded caver to help, he or she is at extreme risk.
Entrapment is an immediate life emergency. It is also a very insidious one, because the person often seems at first to be in no immediate danger. "He's just stuck." But while he's stuck, he's dying. The ability to move is essential to life.
John did something that most experienced cavers would probably not do (or hopefully learn not to do) - he entered a body-tight crawlway head first without being sure that he could turn around or back out. That can be fatal, even if the passage is completely horizontal, because any entrapment leaves you in full-body contact with the cave walls and floor, leading directly to hypothermia. This can and does happen even in moderate temperatures (60-70 degrees F) such as those found in Nutty Putty Cave. The classic case of death by hypothermia in a cave is that of Floyd Collins, and every caver should know that story and be mindful of it.
I am told that the crawl in which John was trapped does not start out going steeply down, but rather goes, in, up, and around a bend before turning downward at a steep angle. Anyone with an affinity for crawls might have gone into and pushed such a passage, hoping to find a new part of the cave, or larger passage beyond. There are apparently several additional constrictions within the body-tight passage, however, and people have reportedly been stuck at some of these points in the past, well before the point where John was found. Once you are in a passage like that, your body fills it up to the point where no one can get past your feet or lower legs. That situation places you at great risk if you become incapacitated in any way. Being head-down exacerbates an already bad situation.
From the accounts of his companions, I gather that John had some awareness of his predicament before becoming completely stuck, and was already struggling to try to back up and out of the passage when he lost his grip and slipped further in. As I understand it, at that point he was already several body lengths into the passage beyond the first major constriction - the place where a previous rescue had occurred. Why he chose to push forward so far before deciding to back out can probably never be known, but it is a tragic lesson for all cavers. This could have happened to any one of us who made the decision to push on in hopes of virgin cave, or in the expectation of finding a turn-around spot. It is not fair to blame John for doing something that most of us have also done at some point in our caving careers - going a bit too far before deciding to back out.
As to the decision to leave John's body in the cave rather than recover it, I have little to say that would be helpful. I simply hope that his family is still comfortable with that decision, and I am glad that the way that the cave was closed leaves room for the possibility of a later recovery of his remains if the family decides that they want to pursue that.
It is also unfair to second guess the rescuers. From what I have been able to determine, they definitely had appropriate equipment, training, skills, and organization. They did everything that their collective experience and expertise could come up with in the particular circumstances that existed at Nutty Putty Cave. That it was not enough to save John is not their fault, in my opinion, and I believe I have studied and worked in the field of cave rescue enough to be confident in that conclusion.
Cave rescue in America has come a long, long way in the last 20 years. While it is certainly true that there are many local rescue squads in cave-rich areas that do not include any cavers or do not have specific cave rescue training and equipment, the situation is still much, much better than it used to be. For example, there is greater cooperation and coordination among cavers, cave rescue teams, local rescue squads, and state or federal emergency management agencies. The Nutty Putty incident is a case in point - the local rescue squad as well as the regional cave rescue team (Utah Cave Search and Rescue) includes NCRC-trained people, as well as people with mountain rescue and technical rope rescue training. They also called upon local cavers and cavers from around the region, many of whom had NCRC training. While that training is not intended to be the be-all & end-all of cave rescue, it does serve several important purposes, not least of which is that it provides a common framework and vocabulary to allow many people from different teams, groups, and organizations to come together and work toward the common goal with a minimum of confusion and conflict.
It was not always this way. I was there and I saw it when it was not this way. We owe a big debt to the NCRC and the people who have created and provided all the training and resources that many of us now take for granted.
It has been my opinion for some time, however, that the NCRC does not do enough to publicize and market its training seminars and classes to NSS members. The NCRC is a commission of the NSS, and we are its core constituency - its primary customers, if you will. But many of us are not aware of its offerings, and few of us take advantage of them. Rescue workers from outside the caving community often make up half or more of the students at NCRC seminars. I hope that those of you reading this will consider attending the National week-long seminar in Mentone, Alabama in May, or one of the regional seminars being held around the country in 2010. They are very accessible and affordable, costing about one-tenth as much as a commercial rope rescue or technical rescue seminar with similar scope and content. That is because all the instructors are volunteers, and the entire seminar is run as a non-profit educational program. The training has been developed by cavers, for cavers, and is taught primarily by active cavers and cave rescuers with a wealth of experience.
I realize that spending a week of your limited vacation or personal time attending an NCRC seminar has a serious impact on your free time. And I also realize that $500 is a lot of money for many of us, even though that covers a week of food and lodging as well as the training itself. But consider this - what is the value of your life, or the life of your friend or family member? Any of us could get hurt or stuck in a cave on any given weekend. Sometimes accidents just happen, even to the most skilled and careful cavers. NCRC training will help you to be prepared when they do. That could be priceless.
I believe that any caver who has ever attended an NCRC training seminar or class will tell you that he or she got something worthwhile from it, even if it was just the opportunity to meet and train with other caver rescuers and get some practice with the techniques and equipment.
Check it out:
http://www.ncrc.info