Presumably because you can look at the board where the coins are hung up, and see at a glance that one is missing, without the need for counting.
Well 12/13 is 92%. A low “A” but still an “A”, it would be hypocritical of me to criticize too much, since I considered that good enough when I was in college.
Hmm . . . 13 . . . an odd number of cavers. You think he was the one without a buddy?
I think it goes the other way around than enipla remembers, or at least, it does for a swimming board.
Everyone who goes in leaves a token on the board. They remove the token when they leave.
That way, you look at the board, and can instantly see who is in the water (or the mine). If there isn’t supposed to be someone still in the water or the mine, and the token is still there, then there is a discrepancy that should be solved before people start locking up and going home for the day.
My first couple of jobs were in restaurants, and before I went into the walk-in cooler or freezer, I checked the latch mechanism very carefully, because I remembered that episode of The Brady Bunch.
The 13th Visitor By Stephen King
A related story (hypothermia wise anyway).
Once in college a friend and I drove to a nearby national forest/state park/whatever…it was a spur of the moment thing and we intended to come home that evening. Well, it was July/August in the deep south so we were both wearing like t shirts and short. But he happened to have a supper doopy crapy tent in the car. We liked the area so much we decided to stay the night.
Yeah, at night in the deep south in the heat of the summer, it does not get THAT cold. But you try sleeping in that on hard ground in a flimsy t shirt and shorts.
I was never so glad to see the sun come up.
Is there a 60’s to 80’s sitcom that didn’t’ have an episode with someone getting locked into a freezer?
Indiana man and the Cave of Doom.
YIPES! it’s like Open Water but with a cave instead of a shark infested ocean.
Yeah, get rid of the fear of drowning, hypothermia, sharks, exposure to the sun, and replace with boredom and hunger.
Not saying it wouldn’t have sucked, but if I had to choose, I think I’d go with being stuck in a cave over being stuck in the middle of the ocean.
I do hope that whoever was leading the trip is sanctioned in some way. Not accounting for everyone after a potentially dangerous activity is totally unacceptable.
I almost got stuck in a cave once through miscommunication. I went on a caving trip with a group from the University of Auckland to the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand about 1984. It was my first caving trip. Four of us planned to go in the main, walk-in entrance of a cave and then exit through a vertical sink hole. The plan was that other cavers were supposed to have left a rope ladder there so we could climb out. After a couple hour trip, including sections where we had to squirm through low passages on our bellies, we got to the sink hole only to find that there was no ladder there. It was impossible to climb out.
The problem was that we were using old-style carbide lamps for lighting (this being before the days of light-weight LED lights). Retracing our steps would take twice as long as we had planned and there was the danger we would run out of fuel. If that had happened we would have had to sit in the dark until our friends came to look for us. They did know our plans and when we were expected back, so we weren’t in real danger. Still, it was a big relief when our lights lasted long enough to get to the main entrance.
It’s probably a bunch of college students. And it isn’t that the caving part made it dangerous…it’s the somebody got locked in somewhere part that represented the danger.
IMO, it’s a variation of the kid left in hot car scenario…except the car isn’t even particularly hot.
People die/get hurt/get put in danger all the time…often without anything approaching IMO criminal negligence. It is a dangerous world out there and people fuck up sometimes.
It goes back to the 1950s, with Lucy being locked in a freezer in 1952.
I suspect whoever was in charge just yelled, “Everybody here? Okay,” and they headed for the bus.
I was almost left behind at the Jefferson Memorial on a field trip, because I went to the bathroom. However, the teacher did take attendance and when back to get me before the bus left.
Ya’ figure? Given that it was a university Caving Club, that’s not a remarkable deduction.
Caving is intrinsically dangerous. It involves climbing around in slippery muddy conditions in places which often have sheer drops, tight squeezes, icy water, and other hazards concealed in pitch darkness. It would have been hazardous to have left the guy unaccounted for even if there hadn’t been a locked gate at the mouth of the cave. He could have easily have gotten into some kind of trouble farther back in the cave and been unable to make it to the exit.
There are a few more details in this article from the student newspaper. For one thing, there were twelve people there, not thirteen. The article also explains just how the kid got separated from the rest of the two groups.
Yes, leaving Bob somewhere in the cave would be hella stupid. And that is what could have happened.
But what DID happen is Bob got locked in the cave. The cave danger is secondary to getting locked somewhere and died because of lack of water/food/hypothermia.
The cave is just the backdrop. People not accounting for everyone else is the main issue. And 99.999999 percent of the time people get this right. and 99.99999 percent of the time even when they get it wrong…there is no real risk.
Somebody (ies) fucked up.
Shit happens.
PS. caving is not that intrinsically dangerous. Swimming is probably more so than caving IMO.
My daughter was at a sailing camp when she was 8, and she got blown way down the bay on her little boat. She capsized and ended up clinging to a buoy for 2 hours until she was rescued by fisherman. No one had any idea she was missing till the fishing boat dropped her back at the camp. The camp leader promptly instituted a tag board so they could keep track of who was on and off the water. Actually, they had one already, but they hadn’t been taking it seriously.
But it’s a heck of a lot more dangerous when that happens on a caving expedition rather than a trip to the mall.
And when shit like this happens due to pure carelessness, those responsible should take the blame.
Caving is intrinsically dangerous, and it’s absurd to minimize the danger. It may have a lower rate of fatality or injuries because people do recognize that danger and take more precautions than they do for more common activities like swimming.