24, 2009 with 10 other friends and family members on an excursion organized by his brother, Josh. Thousands of people have explored the cave, which was once so popular that line formed at its entrance. Hot rising water formed the ancient fissure, and the still-humid air is slowly but constantly degrading the rock. The cave tightens its gripĬaver Dale Green discovered Nutty Putty in 1960 and named it after the clay he found in much of its 1,400 feet of chutes and tunnels. “You’re going to be out of here lickety split.”īut as she tied a webbed rope into a Lover’s Knot around his ankles, she realized bringing John out of the cave was going to be like swimming backward against a very strong current. He had been stuck for more than three hours, one arm bent underneath his chest, the other forced backward. Susie went in first and reached John at 12:30 a.m. They traversed its chambers for about 30 minutes before reaching the 135-foot tunnel where John was stuck. Susie met two other rescuers and descended into the cave through a rocky hole on top of a large hill in the west desert. She drove her Toyota 4Runner, purchased with an eye toward rescues, around the southern end of Utah Lake and down the long, dark dirt road leading to the cave. Susie had been moving into a new house, but dropped everything when her rescue pager went off just after 9 p.m. She knew Nutty Putty, and she could go where others couldn’t. She couldn’t fully extend her arms and legs, but she was confident.Īmong the smallest of the dedicated band of search-and-rescue volunteers in rugged Utah County, Susie couldn’t carry the biggest packs and she got cold faster. He was trapped nearly upside down, his 6-foot, 200-pound body seemingly swallowed by the rock.Ībove John, Susie ‘s slight, 5-foot-3-inch frame was also encased.

“Hi, Susie, thanks for coming, but I really, really want to get out,” said 26-year-old John Jones. The reply seemed to come from the other end of a long hallway.

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