This Wasn’t the SPAR Practice I was Hoping For!

(and no, I didn’t pee on myself)

Stephanie Suen

(as Small Party Assisted Rescued by: Beau Gergel, Vincent Guberti,

Cody Kisner, Dustin Kisner, & Phillip Sullivan)

Bio Slide – Stephanie Suen

• Currently Reside in Ohio
• Day Job: Engineer for a consumer goods manufacturer
• Started caving in 2019 with Greater Cincinnati

Grotto’s “Let’s go Caving”

• Led scout trips 2020 & 2021
• Started project caving 2022
• Surveys include: Silvertip – Moonray & Icy Breath, Fern Cave, CRF Mammoth, Fisher Ridge, James Cave, Whigpistle, Daniel Boone Nat. Forest, Big Bat Cave, Binkley

Passion Areas: Cave Rescue,

Coaching others, Sharing what I’ve

learned

Ask Me About: SRT/ Vertical, Alpine Rigging, Cave Rescue, Survey & Sketch

Spinal Injury Management

• Treat all possible spinal cord injuries based on the Mechanism of Injury (MOI) as well as symptoms and complaints
• Spinal assessment is not performed until after the patient

assessment system has been completed and it’s appropriate to

evaluate and potentially clear the spine of any possible injury

• Method:
1. Patient must be sober, conscious, coherent, and oriented x3, in person,

place & time

• Patient has no painful distracting injuries (example: compound fracture, broken femur, burn)
• Patient does not complain of any pain the entire length of the back
• Patient does not have radiating pain, tingling, paralysis, or numbness in any

extremities

• Patient has intact sensation & motion in all extremities (except for local injuries)
• Patient has no tenderness on physical exam along entire length of back
• Without assistance, patient is able to flex, extend, and rotate neck, upper, and lower back without pain or discomfort and this movement is symmetrical without locking sensation or limited range of motion

Our Resources

• Training:
• 1 Member of Secours Speleo Francais (74: Haute-Savoie – Northern Alps)
• Specialty in de-obstruction and explosives
• 3 of us had been through OCR (Orientation to Cave Rescue)
• 1 of us through SPAR (Small Party Assisted Rescue)
• 1 of us had EMT training
• 1 of us had WFA (Wilderness First Aid) training
• Gear:
• 1 Petzl Crevasse Kit (microtraxion, pulley, 2 oval carabiners, tibloc, sling)
• Rope that was rigged for the main 165ft drop was 300ft
• Rope that was used for the 30ft climb was 150ft
• Had the 50ft practice rope, some webbing, 2 prussic, and 1 pulley at the surface that we had

brought because we were unsure of the rigging configuration

• Call-Out:
• Dustin left the cave through the new entrance and called his aunt Tammy Otten immediately. She called Thor Bahrman (who was in Florida) who called 2 local cavers near Rockcastle County to be on standby

Counterweighted Haul Systems

Out of the Cave

• After getting through the final haul on the 3:1 that Dustin was operating, Vincent helped pull me over the lip of the cave, took my helmet off
• Dustin & Cody carried me down the hill
• Vincent dropped the rope again to enable Phillip & Beau to climb out
• Phillip gets out with no issues
• Beau gets caught in another rockfall in the cave and isn’t responding
• Phillip runs down the hill to get Dustin back up for help while making a call-out to resources in his home grotto

Helmet Safety & Retirement

• Petzl Vertex helmet
• Deformed ribbing due to small rock impact
• Used during SPAR class & 2 cave trips

Thank you, helmet

Feedback from Vincent

• Equipment
• Palmer furnace & rescue blankets
• At least a pulley & Micro Traxion per team
• One bolting kit per team
• Multiple sets of webbing
• Rock gardening
• Tools may be needed for this
• Rigging
• Rope in tension should not touch rock and rope pads can present a hazard
• Rigging to natural points only may not be possible, so good bolting is a good skill
• When rigging in multiple sections, avoid having them all vertically aligned to avoid rock fall
• Begin and end with double anchors in case of failures
• Rope Techniques
• Passing rebelays and deviations are part of initiation to vertical technique – helps with better rigging
• Administrative
• A noticed difference between European and American caving organizations on rescue organizations & insurance
• Personal Appreciation
• “I appreciated the cooperation respect and friendship in the team and found this ‘caving spirit’ that surpasses state boundaries

and languages”

• “There was a good stress management in the team”

What’s in my SPAR Kit?

My genie wish in a SPAR situation is MORE ROPE

The haul systems need copious amounts of rope to be executed

Consider contingency rigging or bringing more rope than the pitch so that this is available as a resource

Psychological Take-Aways

• Allow the patient & their party to have space to process
• Check in on each other!
• People outside of the group will have their own narratives and take- aways
• PTSD can come in different forms and at strange times
• Normalizing talking about our own accidents helps others learn from them and be more prepared

Take-Aways

1. Take Safe Caving Practices Seriously
2. Be Prepared & Get Trained
3. Training is Important Even as a Patient
4. Know when to Self-Rescue and Know When to Call-Out
5. Set Ego Aside, Be Kind, Trust Your Team

The Small Party

Phillip Sullivan

Beau Ties a Beau-Line

Vincent Guberti

Dustin Kisner

Cody Kisner

A Few Resources

• http://ncrc.info/ for the latest NCRC trainings
• For those of you in the midwest, Central Region of the NCRC offers great Orientation to Cave Rescue (OCR) and In Cave Extraction Exercises (ICEE)
• Keep an eye out with NCRC for Small Party Assisted Rescue (SPAR)
• Wilderness First Aid
• Check with scholarships@ncrc.info , and your local grotto if you need financial assistance to go to training.