SAN DIEGO — A 29-year-old woman is safe after a complex extrication from Thunder Canyon Cave off McCain Valley Road north of the community of Boulevard. She went cave exploring Saturday with friends when she tried to cross a narrow opening and stuck between two slabs of rock.
“It’s this really tight rock wall on either side and when you’re wearing a helmet, you can’t even turn your head to the other side,” said rescuer David Angel, a member of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Cave and Technical Rescue Team.
Her friends tried to dislodge her, but were unsuccessful in their efforts, so they called 911. That’s when Sheriff deputies called on the cave rescue team from San Bernardino to help out. After a two-hour hike and 30 minutes of traversing inside the cave, rescuers arrived on the scene.
“Our patient was still in pretty good health and spirits and we were able to warm her up with some heat packs and get her jacket on her,” said Angel. “Caves are cold and wet, and on the surface it was 80 degrees and beautiful and sunny. Underground it was more like 50 degrees and we were concerned about the patient’s welfare in terms of hypothermia.”
Thunder Canyon Cave is known by locals in Boulevard to be a dangerous cave because of its narrow passageways.
“There’s several tight passages where you’re squirming along kind of like this and the pack doesn’t fit on your back, you have to pull it behind you,” described Angel.
After several attempts, rescuers were able to hoist her up, but the challenge didn’t end there. Getting her out of the cave was no easy task.
“There’s a waterfall in the cave, and so we had to raise her fifty feet up over the waterfall and then go through several more constrictions and then over another constriction,” said Angel.
Rescuers brought the woman to safety at about 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning. All told, the ordeal lasted about 16 hours.
“I think like everybody that’s been trapped in that situation, you’re going to be feeling like, ‘Hey, this was really dangerous and I may or may not want to participate in this sport in the future,’” said Angel. “But she seemed to be in relatively good spirits and I hope she comes back to the sport.”