Located deep past the bottom of the Big Slide, the Birth Canal is one of the tightest widely traveled squeezes in the cave. It required cavers to pull themselves forward flat on their stomachs through a claustrophobic, horizontal compression zone.
Angling sharply downward at blind corners, creating natural gravity traps.
: The cave entrance was located on Blowhole Hill , with a 15-foot initial drop that led to either "The Maze" or the "Big Slide". Virtual Exploration nutty putty cave map
The map of Nutty Putty Cave remains a stark reminder of both the mesmerizing complexity of underground geography and the unforgiving reality of extreme wilderness exploration.
John Jones was an experienced caver, but he was on his first visit to Nutty Putty. He was aiming for a passage known as "The Birth Canal," a tight but well-documented route. However, perhaps in the low light, or due to a misinterpretation of the available maps, he mistakenly took a turn into a different crevice: an unmapped, dead-end passage called "Ed's Push". Located deep past the bottom of the Big
For the uninitiated, the phrase "Nutty Putty Cave" might evoke images of a quirky theme park attraction or a brand of children’s modeling clay. For cavers (spelunkers) and internet true-crime enthusiasts, however, the name carries a weight of somber finality. Located west of Utah Lake in Utah County, Nutty Putty Cave was once a beloved hydrothermal maze of narrow passages and tight squeezes. Today, it is a sealed tomb.
The most famous "maps" or diagrams of the cave today focus on the location of the 2009 accident. : The cave entrance was located on Blowhole
The map shows the "Main Branch" as a relatively straight line. In reality, that line represents a passage that in some places is only 10 inches high and 30 inches wide.
To get the most out of your visit to the Nutty Putty Cave, it's essential to understand how to navigate the map. Here are some tips:
The passage was so narrow that rescuers could not physically reach past John to assist him or manipulate his limbs.