I thought this item by an old Florida caver friend, Buford Pruitt, merited
re-posting to our lists.
Roger Moore
GHG
<<1) Walkie-talkies
By: Buford Pruitt (McIntosh, Florida)
I have tried in vain to convince my fellow cavers to use walkie-talkies
on long rope in echoing or wet cave pit entrances ever since I
encountered a group of cops and firemen from Florida and South Georgia
doing so at Flowing Well. My thanks to Bruce Morgan and Jeff Cody for
two stories in two days that amply demonstrate why cavers on rope should
use waterproof walkie-talkies. In addition to their examples, I have a
few more stories of my own and so do many of you.
What will it take to convince US cavers to equip themselves to
communicate competently with their comrades when they are in the most
life-threatening parts of their caving adventures? Certainly, numerous
cases of preventable hypothermia, delayed medical attention and even
deaths have not and apparently will not do the trick. I think it will
take a highly-respected BNC SRT TAG caver on a mission to accomplish
this, and I am convinced that it will eventually be done.
I really don't want to see my friends names in American Caving
Accidents.>>
