This article was written in late July of 1998 for publication in the first Cairn of the school year. As you've probably noted, I try to have a theme that sorta holds my articles together. This one came to me as a result of the rescue that you'll read about.
Since this event I've actually had the pleasure to cave with Craig and train with him for future rescues. I'm glad I was able to help him then and even more glad to get to know him better since then.
The "Black Beast" referred to in the article was a black Subaru I owned at the time.
For those who are new, Over the Hill is an occasional column I write for the Cairn. I write them as I get inspiration and time.
In a previous column I wrote about epicycles and how my life seemed to be going in circles, or at least have paths that lead me back to places I had started. This column is somewhat similar.
A lifeline can be many things. One fairly obvious meaning is that of a rope from which one’s life is suspended. When you are rappelling from the top of a cliff, the rope keeping you from testing the height required to reach terminal velocity for a rock-climber is a lifeline. That is one meaning I intend in this article.
Another meaning I want to give to the word (I am Humpty Dumpty in my world) are the connections from one life to another. By becoming a member of the ROC, you’ve joined yet another lifeline in your life. Let me explain why these two meanings are on my mind as I write this.
I joined ROC in 1985. (Yes, many of you were still in kindergarten at the time!) There were several members then that showed me the ropes. Both literally and figuratively. They showed me how to tie a sitz harness, how to rig a rope for climbing, or how to rig a rope in a cave for ascending. They also helped me figure out who I was becoming and who I wanted to become. Lee Schipper, Guy Moffat, Ray Tice, Warren Weckaser, Dorothy Schuster, Alma Taylor and many other names came to mind. Some of these were there for my first Fall Lake George. Others showed me how to cave. Others helped me become a leader. They passed on the wisdom that previous ROC members had passed on to them.
Over the years I’ve tried to pass on some of that wisdom to others. In this specific context caving is what comes to mind. I passed on some information, while learning more along the way, to people such as Stacy Smyth, Kevin Dumont, Scott Steppenuck, Kevin Embree and others. I won’t take credit for teaching them everything or even most of what they know. I’ll only say I was there for many of their first trips into caves. And these people have in turn passed that information on to others and will pass it on to you.
So a lifeline passed on caving information from before my time to me and on to the present time and will continue to pass it on in the future.
Why is this important you may be asking. Well, on July 18th many lifelines became intertwined and a person’s life literally hung in the balance.
Craig Douglas, an experienced caver from Medford, Massachusetts (and I’ve been told former president of the UNH Outing Club) become stuck in Keyhole Cave in Schoharie County. Within hours a rescue was shaping up.
Around 9:00 PM on Sunday July 19th, Scott Stepenuck gave me a call. They were desperate for small cavers and any other help they could get. Well, as any of you who have met me well know, I didn’t fit the first criteria, but I certainly could play the role of “Strong Back/Weak Mind” and offered any help I could.
After packing up anything I thought I might need, including a sleeping bag and groundpad, I hopped in the Black Beast and drove out there. From miles away I could see the glow of the lights from all the news media. Upon arriving I avoided the news media and hopped into the shuttle truck to take me back the 1+ miles to the cave entrance. Once in the truck I immediately spied an old friend from the New Paltz Outing Club. Yet another lifeline intertwining.
At the cave entrance I eventually got the job of holding down one leg of the tripod and helping with the “elevator” rope as cavers and equipment were raised from or lowered into the cave. Not glamorous work by any means, but the truth is, there never is any during a rescue. It did give me a ringside seat though when Craig finally came out. If you saw it on the news, yes, that was my butt in the picture. I wasn’t the only ROC person there. Scott Stepennuck was of course there and eventually another alumnus, Andrew Slater showed up. Yet more lifelines intertwining.
Going into the cave there were two different communications lines, a compressed air line, the “elevator” line and eventually the “haul” line used to haul Craig up through various sections of the cave. These were all lifelines in their own way.
Over 80 different cavers from at least 7 different states were on hand. Very few had ever met Craig or even knew who he was. For example, I didn’t learn his last name until several hours after he was out. It didn’t matter who he was or how he got stuck. He was a caver in trouble and cavers responded. Yet more lifelines intertwining.
People were flown in from Maryland and West Virginia to help out. (Unfortunately after paying to fly them in, the state at first refused to fly them home, since the emergency was over.) Yet more lifelines intertwining.
The person helping to coordinate the rescue was Emily Mobley a caver well known in these parts. She herself was rescued from Lechigua cave in New Mexico several years ago. Several of the people who helped get Craig Douglas out had helped get Emily out. Yet more lifelines intertwining
As you can see, a single event focused the lives of approximately 200 people. People who had never met each other worked hand in hand to save a single life. So, you may think that you are simply joining a club to get out of Troy on the weekends, and you are. But you are also intertwining yourselves with people who you’ve never met or haven’t met you yet. You may never meet some of them. But your life is already intertwined with them.
There is a Jewish saying, “He who saves a single life saves the World.” I would say that this may be true, but is only part of the story. With apologies to Hillary Rodham Clinton (who happened to be in Troy the week before this article was written), “It takes a Village to save a single life.”
No one person at Keyhole Cave saved Craig’s life. It took all 200 people there and the thousands of people their lives were intertwined with.
Greg D. Moore ’90
All rights resevered 1992-2002 (C) Greg d. Moore
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