Come along with us as we visit a blowing lead that we found earlier this year in January during a snow & ice storm. We've been eager to get back out here and work on this promising lead. We spent very little time working on it before we were able to get in. After checking it out, we moved our attention to the nearby known cave that also blows a lot of air. After we all got in the cave and just before we started working on where we believe the air is coming from, we had a massive rock fall that nearly killed Jason and I. We estimate the rock weighs between 800 - 1000 pounds and we narrowly escaped being seriously injured as it plummeted towards us. Jason ended up with the brunt of the rock hitting him, however it also hit my hand causing a open wound dislocation.
In 21 years of caving, this is my first accident / injury. What did we learn from it you ask? We learned we obviously should not have been standing in the area where we were. Looking back on it, even though it didn't seem like a rock fall zone for one climbing out of the pit, it was one for random rocks falling below it. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt and we are both able to recover and get back at it soon!
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