A caver died early Thanksgiving morning after being stuck upside down for 28 hours in a tight passageway in Nutty Putty Cave in Utah. John Jones, a 26-year-old medical student at the University of Virginia and a Utah native, was exploring the 1,355-foot-long and 145-foot-deep cave, which consists of many narrow tunnels, passages, and small rooms, along with 11 other family members and friends when he tried to squirm through an L-shaped corridor called Bob's Push about 700 feet underground. He became stuck head first in the 18-inch-wide by 10-inch-high crevice and was unable to move since his body blocked the entire passage.

Nutty Putty Cave, a limestone cave on the west side of Utah Lake about 70 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, is a popular beginner's cave. Climb-Utah.com says, "The cave is a lot of fun and will be enjoyed by anyone seeking a little adventure." Access to the cave is limited by a reservations system operated by the Timpanagos Grotto, a chapter of the National Speleological Society, allowing only experienced cavers inside the cave. The entrance is barred by a locked gate.

View a map of Nutty Putty Cave. The accident happened at Bob's Push in the The Birth Canal area. Also note the warning: "Do not squeeze into anything that you might not be able to squeeze out of."

Michael Leavitt, the cave access manager, says the group was experienced and was granted one of six daily permits. "They've never been to Nutty Putty before, but they toured many harder caves in the Logan area that required vertical climbing skills," Leavitt told media. "They were qualified, John was qualified. I'm sure he went into this passage hoping it was going to open up into one of the larger rooms."

After Mr. Jones was stuck, cave rescuers were called to free the 6-foot, 190-pound man. The rescue team, which numbered as many as 50 people, placed bolt anchors in the cave roof for a pulley system, attached ropes to him, and used power tools to widen the tunnel. They were able to raise him 12 feet and give him food and water before the rock that one of the pulley bolts was placed in broke, causing the anchor to fail, and dropped him tightly back into the hole. His physical condition then worsened as he had difficulty breathing and drifted in and out of consciousness. Rescuers sang songs to him to keep his spirits up.

John Jones' brother Spencer Jones of San Francisco told the Associated Press, "We all were very optimistic and hopeful. But it became increasingly clear last night after he got re-stuck that there weren't very many options left. We thought he was in the clear and then when we got the news that he had slipped again. That's when we started to get scared."

Early Thursday morning, John Jones died in Nutty Putty Cave. His funeral is planned for Saturday in Stansbury Park, Utah. He leaves behind a pregnant wife and eight-month-old daughter. Our condolences to his friends and family on this tragedy.

This is not the first time that someone has become stuck and had to be rescued in Nutty Putty Cave. In July 1999, two teenagers were rescued after being stuck in a narrow passage called The Birth Canal 120 feet below the surface for 10 hours. Another two cavers were pulled from the Bob's Push area during Thanksgiving week in 2004. John Jones is the cave's first fatality.

The Deseret News reports that the cave will be closed permanently to avoid future accidents and rescues and because Nutty Putty Cave is now the tomb of John Jones. Spencer Cannon, spokesman for the Utah County Sheriff, says that after consultation with cavers and the search and rescue group, "There will be no future efforts to remove the body because of where it's located and the danger of accessing the area. The risk is too high." The family plans to create a memorial to John at the cave entrance and to set up a fund to promote safe caving.

Photographs above: Top: A search and rescue caver squirms through a narrow passage in Nutty Putty Cave near the location of John Jones accident. Bottom: One of the bolts that anchored the pulley system to pull John Jones out of his wedged position. Photographs courtesy Utah County Sheriff Department.

I'm out in the barren wilds of western Arizona right now, hanging out with the great sixties American climber Layton Kor. Layton, along with Royal Robbins, was probably the most prolific and influential rock climber during that seminal golden period in American climbing. He climbed everywhere, putting up first ascents that are still being climbed and revered by today's rock stars.

Yesterday, while driving out to attempt a 300-foot-high soaring prow of rotten volcanic chiprock in the Black Mountains, Layton entertained Dennis Jump and me with tales of his vertical adventures. One of Kor's favorite climbing areas back then was the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in western Colorado. The Black, a deep defile lined with huge cliffs, was his personal playground. He made the first ascents of all the canyon's major walls. Here's a funny story he told me as we sped across the Golden Valley.

A bit of backstory: Layton worked as a bricklayer most of his adult life "A good job," he says. "Gave me lots of time to climb."

"I was climbing in the Black Canyon with Jim Marts back in the sixties and we got caught in a bad rainstorm. There were black clouds everywhere but I had told him, 'We don't have to worry about rain. It never rains down here.' Boy, was I wrong. We got caught about halfway up the wall in rain. I was soaked, water dripped into my boots. I ended up finishing the last pitch, aiding up a bushy groove to the rim at night with a flashlight in my mouth. Near the top the batteries burned out.

"We got to the rim and had to drive back to Boulder. I had to be at work the next morning on Monday. At one time while we were driving, I thought he was falling asleep so I grabbed the steering wheel. We had a wrestling match with the wheel.

"When I got to the jobsite, I grabbed my toolbag but I was so tired I grabbed my rope instead of my level. I walked over to the wall and all the guys were staring at me. 'Layton, what are you doing with your rope?' 'Layton, you gonna use that rope as a line?' I never heard the end of that on the construction site. The other bricklayers ribbed me mercilessly. 'Layton, you bring your rope? You need to get that wall level!' Jeez, those guys gave me a hard time."

Photograph above: Layton Kor arranges protection on the first pitch of a new route in the Black Mountains, Arizona. Photograph © Stewart M. Green.

Read more about Layton Kor and our medical fundraising effort.

The Mediterranean coast of southern France between Marseille, the third largest city in France, and Cassis is a ragged landscape of deep inset bays called calanques and jutting promontories lined with gleaming limestone cliffs that plunge into the sea. Les Calanques, a 14-mile stretch of coastline, is a wonderful natural region for hiking, swimming, diving, and rock climbing. Almost 4,000 climbing routes, both sport and traditional climbs, ascend the cliffs.

Les Calanques is not as popular with North American climbers as the more famed inland French areas like Buoux, Gorges du Verdon, and Ceuse. It is, however, just as good as those other more famous climbing areas. For me, Les Calanques is simply one of my favorite European climbing destinations. Every time I've climbed there, I find the routes intriguing, the limestone perfect, the views stunning, and the climbing fun.

Now climbing, as well as other outdoor activities, is at risk at Le Calanques. The French government has proposed a Calanques National Park (Parc National des Calanques) to open in 2011. The park, France's eighth national park, will have two zones; a closely monitored internal zone and a surrounding zone with looser regulations. Rock climbers and other users have been generally omitted from the park's official study group, leaving them out of the decision-making process for managing the new park.

To counter this, a group called Association des Calanques et des Hommes, composed of various user groups, has united to make sure their concerns are heard and that they will be allowed to participate in discussions for the final park management plan.

If you've climbed at Les Calanques or care about its future as a climbing area, visit the association website and sign the on-line petition "to show how many foreigners love the Calanques too."

The petition text reads: "We support the future Calanques National Park; we support nature protection and environment preservation; but we are opposed to the creation of any unjustified restricted reserve along the coastland of the Calanques and Falaises Soubeyrannes, which would condemn all nature activities of low environmental impact in these zones."

For more information:

Association des Calanques et des Hommes

"Rebellion in Provence at Paris Plan for National Park" The Observer

Photograph above: Limestone cliffs at Calanque en Vau, part of the proposed Les Calanque National Parc on France's Mediterranean coast. Photograph © Stewart M. Green.

If you're ice climbing or mountaineering in winter, it's easy to get cold hands and even frostbite on your fingers. It's important to keep your hands warm and fingers flexible on frigid outings. When you're in the high mountains like Mount Whitney, Denali, Mont Blanc, and Mount Everest, it's a given fact that your hands are going to get cold. How you deal with that chill makes a difference. You can come home with finger frostbite or finger freedom, depending on what kind of gloves and mittens you use.

To find out more about keeping your hands toasty and digits frostbite-free, I've posted a couple new articles--Keep Your Hands Warm and The Best Mountaineering Glove System by winter mountaineer and contributing writer Susan Paul. A three-part glove system, with glove liners, good gloves or mittens, and taped mittens, is the best system. Susan gives you her thoughts on creating a glove system as well as suggestions on which products to buy.

Next week, I'll be adding a couple more articles that Susan is working on, including Warm Hands with Proper Gear and What to Do if Your Hands Get Cold. This winter, she's also going to be testing some of new battery-operated gloves and posting her thoughts and reviews of these products, while I'm working on an article about keeping your hands warm on winter rock climbs. See ya out there on the rock and snow!

Photograph above: A climber near the summit of Denali needs good gloves for warm hands. Photograph © Mike Powell/Getty Images.

The year of 2009 will go down as one of the darkest in mountaineering history. The latest climber to die is 40-year-old Tomaz Humar, a Slovenian alpinist who fell during a solo attempt on the immense unclimbed South Face of 23,711-foot (7,227-meter) Lantang Lirung in northern Nepal. Humar's body was recovered from the world's 99th highest mountain early Saturday morning by rescuers.

Humar contacted his base support team last Monday, reporting that he had fallen and suffered a broken leg and spinal injury. Asian Trekking's Dawa Sherpa, who coordinated the rescue effort, detailed Humar's communications in an email to ExplorersWeb: "On the evening of November 9th, Asian Trekking received an emergency call from BC crew member Jagat: Tomaz had had an accident at approximately 6,300m and requested immediate rescue... [Tuesday] at 10:00am was also the last time Tomaz called Jagat. The conversation was very short. Tomaz seemed to be in a very critical condition and his voice was very weak. He said: 'Jagat, this is my last!' There was no further contact with Tomaz after that."

Sherpa rescuers searched the area on Tuesday and Wednesday by both foot and air but were unable to locate Humar, then heavy snow on Wednesday and Thursday hampered the rescue effort because of avalanche danger. On Saturday morning his body was spotted, although a couple thousand feet lower than expected. "He had clearly fallen during the climb and broken his spine and leg," says Dawa Sherpa. "He was climbing alone with no guides or porters." Humar's body was recovered by a crack helicopter rescue crew from Air Zermatt in Switzerland.

Gerald Biner with Air Zermatt released this statement earlier today: "We just got a call from our rescue team in Kathmandu. The rescue was made just a few minutes ago. Pilot Robert Andenmatten and rescuer Simon Anthamatten could get Tomaz down from Langthang Lirung. Unfortunately Tomaz did not survive. All our thoughts are with his family and friends. Tomaz was found at 5600 meters on the south wall. Robert decided to use 25 meters of static rope to bring Simon to the accident site. Robert, who was with a Nepali captain, first flew Tomaz to basecamp and went up again to get Simon. Tomaz was further down then expected and had a broken leg. Our team is not sure if he had fallen further up the wall."

This is not the first time that Tomaz Humar had to be rescued from a high peak. In 2005 he attempted a solo ascent of the Rupal Face on Nanga Parbat, the ninth-highest mountain in the world, in Pakistan. Humar was plucked from the face in a daring helicopter rescue after four days on a snowy ledge at 19,600 feet high on the mountain. The two Pakistani army pilots who saved him were awarded with Slovenia's highest military honor for bravery.

Humar was probably the greatest active mountaineer in the world today. He emulated Reinhold Messner's tactics of climbing fast and light in a pure alpine style, carrying no oxygen and only basic equipment. He first gained notoriety after his 1999 solo ascent of the South Face of Dhaulagiri. In 2007 he soloed the South Face of Annapurna.

Tomaz Humar's website outlines the creed he lived by: "He was never a man of rules. He decided very early on in his life that his story with the mountains would be his alone and that his journeys would be set by nobody but himself. He denounced classical Himalayan expeditions where one has to follow the rules of a leader and became the master of his own destiny."

Humar also wrote: "Every mountain has its soul. If the mountain doesn't accept you and you don't submit to her will, she will ruin you." Now Lantang Lirung owns his soul. Tomaz, climb in peace among your beloved mountains.

Photographs above: Top: The South Face of Langtang Lirung, the 99th highest mountain in the world. Bottom: Tomaz Humar hard at work on vertical ice. Photographs courtesy Ahtih/Wikipedia and Tomaz Humar.

For over twenty years, from roughly 1980 to 2000, Jerry Moffatt was simply the best climber in Great Britain. Now Moffatt can add prize-winning author to his extensive resume after Revelations, his new autobiography, just won the Grand Prize at the prestigious 16th annual Banff Mountain Book Festival for outdoor, adventure, and environmental genres. The book, coauthored with Niall Grimes, chronicles Moffatt's rise to rock stardom.

Stephen Goodwin, one of the festival jury, says, "Margaret Thatcher's great contribution to pushing rock climbing standards in the 1980s can now be better appreciated: mass unemployment, climbers existing on the dole (welfare payments), dossing in caves and tumble-down shacks at the foot of crags in North Wales and the Peak District, and all the while, in Jerry's case, training, training, training...." Moffatt was both obsessed and dedicated to climbing. He trained compulsively, especially on the boulders. He lived for months under tarps or in shacks, eating beans and drinking tea, collecting his dole checks, and climbing every day.

Revelations won over 101 book entries from ten countries. American alpinist Steve House won The Jon Whyte Award for Mountain Literature for his mountaineering book Beyond the Mountain, while David Roberts was awarded Best Book on Mountaineering History for The Last of His Kind, a biography of photographer and alpinist Bradford Washburn, and Sarah Garlick won Best Book on Mountain Exposition for her Falcon book Flakes, Jugs, and Splitters about climbing and geology. The great American climber Royal Robbins was given a Special Jury Mention for Royal Robbins: To Be Brave -- My Life, the first volume of his planned seven-volume autobiography.

Read more about the Banff Mountain Book Festival.

The Devil's Thumb, sometimes called Toponas, its Indian name, poses high above Boulder, Colorado, on the southeast ridge of Bear Peak. The crooked digit, usually climbed by a short, amenable route (5.7) up its east side, offers an imposing north wall of overhanging sandstone sliced by diagonalling roofs and intermittent cracks that was climbed with aid by the late Kyle Copeland and Scott Sounders in 1981.

In one of this year's best efforts on American stone, Matt Wilder cranked the steep face on October 17. Naming the route Cheating Reality, Matt tentatively assesses the route 5.14a R but says it's "bouldery and heady" and difficult to rate.

The athletic route features lots of technical face climbing and difficult moves, including the five-move V10 crux, an "improbable leftward dyno to a sloper" from a crimp handhold, and finishes with a "final powerful and crimpy boulder problem" (V7) to the summit slab. Because of the route's serious nature, Wilder climbed it in headpointing style, that is, he worked sections on top-rope as well as did it twice on top-rope before attempting the lead. He led the route on his second attempt, the first ending when a foothold broke.

Matt, writing on his blog, gave the route its name because "the crux dyno move seems impossible at first and when you finally stick it for the first time, you feel like you've cheated reality" and "the gear was a bit scary and by not falling on the route, you are cheating reality." He also calls it a "world class route" that will be a "Front Range classic for sure."

In previous years, a first ascensionist might have slammed in a few bolts and established Cheating Reality as a sport climb, a safe and sanitary line up the steep wall that any hard climber could send. Matt Wilder, however, had the vision and boldness to create a free climb in a traditional style that will definitely stand the test of time--in another 50 years when the bolts are rusting out of Shelf Road's cliffs, Cheating Reality will be the same climb that it was in 2009. Well done, Matt, and thanks for keeping an eye to the future.

Find out more about Cheating Reality and Matt Wilder on Matt's Climbing Blog.

Photograph above: Matt Wilder working up a 5.12 corner on Cheating Reality. Photograph courtesy Andy Mann.

What's the best American climbing area? I posted a poll last week on the About.com Climbing Forum. Go there and cast your ballot for your favorite.

It's hard to decide which is the best climbing area in the United States. Lots of excellent climbing areas scatter around this vast country. Back in the 1970s it wasn't hard to decide the best arenas for rock climbing. The Big Three--Yosemite Valley, Eldorado Canyon, and the Shawangunks--were simply the best, the places where cutting edge routes were done by the world's elite climbers.

Now it's more difficult to decide. There are just so many places to climb. I winnowed them down to five areas--Yosemite, Shawangunks, New River Gorge, Smith Rock, and the Boulder area. The Big Three are still in there, for historic and aesthetic reasons and because their climbing is that good, but I chose the other two for the same reasons. Smith could rightly be called the place were American sport climbing took root, while the New offers a heck of a lot of great climbing.

There are the omissions, of course. Everyone has a favorite special area that isn't on my list, places like Red River Gorge, the Moab area, Joshua Tree, Cochise Stronghold, and Red Rocks.

All these areas are worthy. All are great climbing areas. But are they the best? Are my picks jingus? What do you think? Vote in the poll and post your comments here. Let's decide what's the best American climbing area in 2009!

Vote in my About.com Climbing Poll for the best American climbing area.

Photograph above: Keith McAllister cranks "Tongulation" at the New River Gorge, West Virginia. Photograph © Stewart M. Green.

The UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme) Safety Commission recently released its first safety standards for braking devices used for belaying and rappelling after working with device manufacturers over the last ten years. The standards include parameters for device performance as well as stringent testing guidelines so that devices can receive coveted UIAA approval.

Belay and rappel devices are crucial pieces of safety gear that climbers use every day, having these new safety standards will ensure that you can buy and use the approved devices with confidence. The standard applies to four basic braking devices--manual, locking-assisted, rappel devices, and rappel devices with a panic function. It details what kind of attachment points the device has to connect to other equipment and the size of the rope opening.

The standard also provides testing criteria for static strength on both the climbing rope and the device as well as dynamic loading strength on auto-locking devices to see how much rope slippage occurs in the device during a fall, if the rope and device are damaged by the impact forces, and what minimum and maximum rope diameters can be safely used. Lastly, the standard details the device use instructions that must be included by the manufacturer.

You can download the Braking Device Standards (UIAA 129) report from the UIAA website. While it's the sort of document that only an engineer could love, it's worthwhile to have a quick look to see the new standards so you can evaluate your own belay and rappel devices. The standards took effect on September 30. Look for approved braking devices next year.

Buy a New Belay and Rappel Device:

Buy a Black Diamond ATC

Buy a Petzl GriGri

You're out climbing in Yosemite Valley and five pitches up your latest route you take your belay and rappel device off your harness to pull the rope out after belaying your buddy up the last pitch. Before you know it, it's slipped from your hand and you see the device bouncing down the wall below...ping, ping, ping and it's off into the forest at the base.

Do you know how to rappel off a climb if you accidently drop, lose, or forget your rappel device? There are a few ways to get down, including the Dulfursitz or body rappel, the Münter hitch, and the carabiner brake. Of the three, the carabiner brake method is the best and safest method.

Back when I started rock climbing in the late 1960s, the carabiner brake method was what almost everyone used to rappel. Few rappel devices, besides the figure-8 descender, were available then. The carabiner brake is fairly simple to rig and you only use carabiners, which you always carry with you when climbing.

Check out a couple new articles I posted this week on About.com about rappelling with a carabiner brake. The Carabiner Brake Method explains what a carabiner brake is and why it's the best way to rappel if you lose your rappel device. Next read How to Rig a Carabiner Brake and learn how to make a carabiner brake with six carabiners. Then get out on your local cliff and practice so next time you lose your rap device, you can safely rappel down.

Photograph above: Know how to rig a carabiner brake and you'll safely rappel off all your climbs. Photograph © Stewart M. Green.