The rescue took its toll on crews working at the cave, many of whom were grieving and struggling with their inability to free Jones. where the cave peters out to virtually nothing,' said Valentine, who said he'd been in Nutty Putty some 25 times over the years. 'This particular area is very, very difficult. Jones found himself in one of the areas off the cave's main passage during an outing with 11 friends and family Tuesday night and was unable to get out. It reopened in May and had once again become popular, especially among amateur cavers, said Mike Leavitt, who managed access to the cave.Īlthough the cave was popular, it had never been fully mapped.

They closed the cave, sealing the body inside. 24, 2009, only months after the cave was reopened. After a failed rescue attempt, they concluded it would be too dangerous to retrieve the body. John Edward Jones visited Nutty Putty Cave with his brother Josh and 11 others on Nov.

The cave hosted 5,000 to 10,000 visitors per year until 2006, when it was temporarily closed while managers implemented a stricter system of access that included a permit system, requirement that cavers be with someone experienced and a locked gate. TIL On Nov 24, 2009, John Jones died of cardiac arrest due to the strain placed on his body after being trapped upside down for 27 hours in Nutty Putty cave. The last time was in 2004 when a teenage boy had to be pulled out of an area not far from where Jones got stuck. Although Jones' death is the first known fatality since cavers began exploring Nutty Putty's narrow passageways in the 1960s, rescuers have been called to the cave five times in the last 10 years.

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