Virginia Girl Stuck In Cave

[L Roebuck]

Teenager Gets Stuck in Cave
Augusta County
Lauren McKay

A girl scout caving trip in Augusta County turns scary for one teenager. Fire officials say a teenage girl was stuck in a cave 300-feet down, wedged between two boulders for more than two hours. They say when they got to Glade Cave off Ridge Road the girl was cold. Fire officials say it is about 50-degrees, wet, and muddy in the cave. Aircare went to the scene as a precaution, but the teen-ager was taken to Rockingham Memorial Hospital with only minor injuries.

www.whsv.com/news/headlines/3494021.html

[L Roebuck]

Girl gets stuck in cave
By David Royer/staff
[e-mail]

MOUNT SOLON — A 12-year-old girl spent nearly two hours wedged between two rocks in a cave 60 feet underground Friday.

Cavers and rescue squads from Mount Solon and Bridgewater used a rope ladder to fish the girl out of Glade Cave, a small private cave on Ridge Road.

She walked away, smiling and uninjured, at 1:50 p.m.

"She just got a little tired," said Tony Smith, a cave rescuer from Bridgewater.

The girl was among a group of 10 girls and four guides from Camp May Flather, a Girl Scout camp, who were exploring the cave.

Patti Smith, director of Camp May Flather and leader of the tour, said she had toured the caves several times a year for 25 years.

Smith, who is a trained cave rescuer, said there was nothing particularly challenging about the cave, though it was a tight fit where the girl became stuck. She found herself stuck in the same place once before, she said.

Article: www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060805/NEWS01/608050323/1002

[Karsthuntr]

The second article is closer to being correct. Tony Smith and I helped on this rescue.

[Sharon Faulkner]

Thanks for the update karsthuntr and welcome to the forum!

Are you with Bridgewater Cave Rescue?

[madratdan]

karsthuntr said:

The second article is closer to being correct. Tony Smith and I helped on this rescue.

Welcome to the discussion board, karsthuntr. Care to fill us in on some of the details?

[tncaveres]

Always up for hearing about a happy ending rescue story ;D

[Karsthuntr]

nssmembersforum said:

Thanks for the update karsthuntr and welcome to the forum!

Are you with Bridgewater Cave Rescue?

No such thing as Bridgewater cave rescue anymore, they formed RASAR many moons ago. Jeff Good and I are the only cave rescue people in RASAR now.



Now to the Cave Rescue...

I received a call from the Grottoes fire dept. at noon on that Friday, they had no idea where Glade cave was (they thought it was on cave hill, in Grottoes) I told them it was in Bridgewater or close to it (I didn't know where it was either). I got back to the office and called Tony Smith, he's only about 10 min. from the cave. We arrived at the cave around 1:00, fire dept. was on scene and Air Care 5 was landing. I got a little update from Tony and we suited up. Four fire dept. members went in about 10 before we did. At about 1:15 we along with one member of wintergreen fire rescue entered the cave, we took along a small cable ladder. Tony has rescued other people from this cave and is his favorite cave.

We found the girl about 60 feet from the entrance standing up at the bottom of a 6 foot down climb. Tony got a report from the 4 FD members in the cave, they told us they were going to put her in a backboard and already had on a C collar. She had no injuries and was just cold and thought she was stuck. We lowered a cable ladder and basically told her to get her ass out of the cave. We assisted her out of the cave, more moral support than anything else.

Total time in cave: 10-15 minutes
Total time on scene: 45 minutes
Total time from first call and when I was back at work: 3 hours.

All's well that ends well.

[L Roebuck]

Thanks for filling in some details karsthuntr !

And Welcome to US Cavers! ;D

[Taylor]

Ashburn girl survives cave ordeal
By: Eileen M. Carlton
08/15/2006

Emily Bacon, of Ashburn, went into Glade Cave near Mount Solon in Augusta County as any Girl Scout should go anywhere - prepared. She had been thoroughly indoctrinated into the proper way to explore a cave by experienced cavers. She was wearing all the certified and compulsory equipment. She was going into a cave that had been mapped and explored by hundreds.

Then Emily slipped, and the excursion became not one of exploration, but one of rescue. By the time the 13-year-old was extracted from between two boulders 90 minutes later, she had learned that tingling and numbness from an arm and a leg going to sleep becomes pain.

Emily learned that the cold of a cave, even in August, will penetrate several layers of clothing. The average temperature in Glade Cave is 50 degrees.

Finally, Emily learned that heroes can be found anywhere, even in a tiny town southwest of Harrisonburg.

The cave trip began the morning of Aug. 4, and was the final major activity before the Girl Scouts, ages 13-15, would leave Camp Mayflather after being there one week.

"We had rules about what we weren't supposed to do," Emily said. "We were not allowed to vandalize the caves. We were to leave nothing behind. We had to have three points of contact with the walls of the cave at all times."

With caving instructors leading the way, Emily said the girls were told to use a "commando crawl." They wore layers of clothing, gloves and helmets with headlamps.

The floor of the cave was muddy, with no pavement or lighting. There weren't any handrails.

"We didn't get far because it's really muddy," Emily said. "I was just going behind one of the girls. I was in the back of the group; one counselor was at the bottom and one was right behind me and she was helping us get down to crawl between two boulders. You're supposed to go down on your butt. I turned around to go down and face out. I turned too fast and slid in between two boulders. I thought I could get out really easily. The counselor behind me said, 'I'll help you get up,' and then I realized I really couldn't move."

Another counselor was called and several unsuccessful methods were tried to free Emily. Another counselor went to get the farmer who owned the land, while four individuals stayed with Emily.

"After about 10 minutes I was afraid," Emily said. "Because I had my whole right side stuck in there. Half of my chest was wedged in between the rocks and that whole side hurt really bad. My shirt was up around my shoulders and on the left side they covered me with four or five blankets. My arm and leg went to sleep."

The counselors were also making sure Emily's spirits stayed on an even keel.

Complete article: www.timescommunity.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=17058389&BRD=2553&PAG=461&dept_id=506035&rfi=6