Jenolan 2010: Extraction from “Home Sweet Home”

Over the weekend of 30th/31st October 2010 the NSW Cave Rescue Squad, in conjunction with the Jenolan Caves Reserve Trust staff, conducted a training exercise at Jenolan Caves. The exercise was billed as an excellent opportunity to bring together recent training, provide valuable experience for many newer members and to work with the local staff who would, most likely, be the first responders in an authentic rescue. This was also the first major exercise since the Squad introduced new vertical cave rescue techniques; techniques that are based on the methods currently in use with many European cave rescue organisations, which seek to minimize the use of equipment while maximizing the progression of the casualty. The Squad first trialed a training package based on these skills with ten members of Squad in early 2010 and it is envisaged that this would form the core of a learning program to meet the requirements of the nationally accredited PUASAR004B Undertake Vertical Rescue public safety training competency.

Planning for this exercise was undertaken with detailed consultation between the Squad and the National Parks and Wildlife Service’s Karst and Geodiversity Unit with the aim of minimising the impact on the cave. It was therefore decided not to conduct a full-scale search in the cave, instead the scenario was constructed such that the location of the casualty was known in advance with the responders required to plan and then extract the casualty to the creek level suitable for a helicopter evacuation. As a further measure to reduce the environmental impact a single route through the cave was developed with Jenolan Caves staff and marked with flagging tape for all to use.

A risk analysis of the activities undertaken at Jenolan Caves indicated that there is a potential of an accident with the popular adventure tours run by Caves Staff in Mammoth Cave. Mammoth Cave is a large and complex cave with over 9km of passage, although surveying and exploration is continuing, with some 75m of vertical elevation to water level. Therefore, the scenario for this exercise was developed on the premise that a participant on a ‘Lower River’ adventure tour in Mammoth Cave had been injured, and was located close to the area known as ‘Home Sweet Home’. This area is a moderate sized chamber located shortly after the junction of the three routes to the Southern section of Mammoth Cave but before the diversion to ‘Grinning Monster Lake’. There appears to be some discrepancy in the naming conventions used in the various caving clubs and Jenolan Caves staff so the locations used in this report favour those described in the Mammoth Book .

It should be noted that when looking at the cave as a whole this location is not very far into the cave, in fact this section can be covered by fit, experienced cavers in some 15 minutes. Yet, this relatively short section of cave contains some challenging and different sections ranging from tight crawlways to inclined rock piles and vertical solution tubes, which made it perfect for this training exercise.

The exercise commenced with all 20 participants meeting for an 0800 briefing at the Fire Shed near the Cavers Cottage. After the briefing the equipment and personnel were consolidated into a minimum of 4WDs and, with the permission of the managers, drove to the Mammoth Flat car park for the exercise proper to begin.

At approximately 0900 a team of Jenolan guides entered the cave to mark the route and ‘deliver’ the casualty. Closely following the guides a first response team with the underground controller entered the cave to start the management of the extraction component of the exercise.
Immediately following the first response team, the communications team was tasked with running Michie Phone cable from the entrance to the casualty. Michie Phones are a simple, yet effective, single wire telephone system designed for the cave environment where radio communications are not possible beyond short distances. On the surface VRA radios were used between the entrance and the playing fields, and a Jenolan Caves radio was available should we have needed urgent assistance.

While these initial response teams were working through the cave, the remaining participants helped to set up the above ground control area. This was set up as the base of surface operations and as such the Michie Phone base station and entrance controls were located here.
The generally accepted principle in cave rescue is that being moved in the stretcher is medically stressful on the casualty, so the extraction should move as smoothly and quickly as possible. This is achieved by initially moving the casualty to a comfortable location then waiting for everything to be ready to move the stretcher as far as possible. If it is not possible to move the casualty all the way to the entrance in one step (e.g. insufficient equipment), a staging point should be chosen where the casualty can be kept warm and comfortable until the next section of cave is ready.

After an assessment of the cave, the underground controller decided the extraction could be done in one step without a staging point. The location of the casualty was relatively comfortable (albeit very cold due to a strong draught), so it was decided to leave the casualty there to be stabilised, kept warm and observed. Regular patient observations were conducted and these were communicated to the surface controller via Michie Phone.

Four small teams were each allocated one section of the cave between Home Sweet Home and a surface location near the creek where the casualty could be transferred to an ambulance or helicopter. The first team had the section between ‘Home Sweet Home’ and the top of the rock pile / 40-footer (a low narrow crawl section followed by a twisting rock pile or a 13m narrow pitch). The second team was allocated from here to the entrance chamber (a series of 3-4m climbs to the top of the ‘jug handle’). The third section was from the top of the jug handle to the surface, and the final section was from the entrance to the creek level. Each team had 2 operators allocated to be responsible for their section, and they utilised the extra operators where needed.

The tight crawling section was not overly difficult with lots of people helping to move the stretcher on its’ side through the narrow space. The obvious choice for the next section was to lift the stretcher up the 40-footer pitch, because it would not be possible to get it through the rock pile. This pitch is narrow, especially at the top, so the team used a counterbalance system to lift the stretcher vertically up the pitch and then used, a “head and foot” manoeuvre to transfer the stretcher away from the pitch.

The second team negotiated the series of small pitches with a combination of a counterbalance and a number of people assisting to lift and place the stretcher. The ‘Jug Handle’ proved particularly tight – a two metre long semi-rigid stretcher has a way of making a simple cave passage surprisingly difficult to negotiate!

The most obvious route through the Entrance Chamber is over or under giant boulders then up the slope to the main entrance. This would have been labour intensive and involved either multiple short pitches or negotiating some low crawls. While assessing this section of the cave it was realised that from the top of the jug handle there was almost a direct sight to the top entrance, and that an inclined Tyrolean Traverse could be set up with only a slight deviation. This Tyrolean was about 40m long over a steep incline of approximately 60 degrees and shaved the estimated time to traverse this section from several hours to just 10 minutes.

The stretcher was pulled up this Tyrolean using another counterbalance system, with a moveable deviation halfway, and a human deviation near the top to avoid the rope rubbing on the rocks. A combination of two trees about 30m up the hill above the top entrance and a large boulder that was wedged into the entrance was used as the basis for the upper anchors of the Tyrolean. As a technical note the rigging of these anchors used over 100m of rope and, due to the difficulty of moving on the steep terrain required nearly two hours.
Finally, with daylight still playing across the top of the ridges outside, the stretcher was transferred to a second Tyrolean and lowered to the creek level, which was the designated end point of the extraction.

All in all the exercise had taken about nine hours since the first team entered the cave, and nearly three hours since the stretcher had started moving from ‘Home Sweet Home’. To reiterate the effort involved, this section of cave would take an able bodied caver that was familiar with the route about 15 minutes to traverse. With the casualty extracted on Saturday afternoon, the cave was left fully rigged so that everyone would have a chance to the see the entire route and have it explained. Many people only saw ‘their’ section of the route during the exercise.
Overall, the exercise was very successful and while not everything went to the original intention, the creative thinking of the operators allowed the progress of the casualty to continue almost unimpeded.

The Squad is currently planning another exercise at Jenolan next year and hope to have more participants and more people trained in the new vertical cave rescue techniques so that we can plan an even more challenging exercise.