Not many people haven’t heard about the tragedy that occured in Nutty Putty Cave the day before Thanksgiving this year. A fellow caver, John Jones, perished while doing an activity he enjoyed and loved. The efforts to recover the body was deemed too dangerous, so the decision to permanently close the cave was made, making Nutty Putty Cave John Jones’ final resting place. Thoughts and prayers to the Jones family.
With that said, I am a strong believer in living your life to the fullest in spite of danger. You never know what’s around the corner so make the best of it with all your heart!
What did I do this weekend? Caving practice! So I grabbed my gear (and borrowed some of John’s, thanks John!) and headed out to Stoney Point. We rehashed some basics, like tying knots, and then I was off to the ropes.
This is the crevice we practice in. The ropes are hung in different places to assimilate a variety of situations. Here I am working my way around the boulder so I can drop in and rappel down.
Now that I maneuvered the boulder and thread the rope through the rack, I am ready to descend!
Honestly, I find this activity kinda Zen. Complete focus on what you are doing drowns out everything else creating a space where you are simply in the moment with only what is truly important; which is peaceful.
If you descend vertically in, you must ascend out…
Yes, I am just dangling there. Generally a caving harness is not very comfortable but I just bought this padded harness and I give it high marks; could have sat there for hours. I had to maneuver around that orange line, by the way. It’s all about learning the techniques that keep you safe!
