Six men were exploring the 300 foot (91.4 m) deep Cascade Cave on Vancouver Island
when something went horrifyingly wrong.
This is their story.
[music]
On the West Coast of British Columbia Canada is the beautiful Vancouver Island.
Home to the province's capital Victoria,
Vancouver island is the largest and most populated island along the West Coast of the Americas.
Vancouver Island also has a diverse climate with some of the mildest temperatures anywhere in Canada.
The temperature in January rarely drops below freezing
and the summer temperatures can reach its highest 33 degrees Celsius or 91 Fahrenheit on a regular basis.
The interior of the island also has significant mountains
similar to those that are typical of the rest of the Pacific Northwest
and as a result, there are large differences in the amount of precipitation across the island.
The interior of the island can see as much as 262 inches (665.5 cm),
which is the most in all of North America
whereas the Eastern tip in the rain shadow of the mountains sees as little as 24 inches (61 cm).
In addition, the majority of this precipitates during the winter months.
In fact, the rainfall during the summer season amounts to less than one fifth of the rain during the winter season
and if you've ever been to the Pacific Northwest,
you're probably all too familiar with the rainy months.
At 6:00 AM on December 5th, 2015,
Jason's story bent down in the dark over his bed to kiss his wife, Caroline, goodbye.
That day he would be traveling 80 miles (129 km) Northwest of his home in the city of Duncan on Vancouver Island
to explore a cave with five friends.
He walked out of his house that morning and the rain was coming down steadily,
as is the case with most days in the winter months on the Pacific Northwest.
Jason was dressed for the wet weather though, not only for the trip there, but also for the conditions inside the cave.
He had on some rubber boots, neoprene socks, three shirts, overalls, and a water-resistant jacket.
He'd also recently bought a helmet with a mounted headlamp for just this occasion.
Up to this point, Jason had only been caving four times
and the cave that he would be going to that day was gonna be his toughest cave yet.
Near the city of Port Alberni is a cave known as Cascade Cave.
It's dangerous enough that there's a locked hatch covering the opening
and the key to the hatch is only given to groups that sign waivers
indicating that they understand the dangers of exploring the cave system.
In addition, the location of the cave is kept somewhat secret within the caving community
to ensure that people can't get hurt exploring it or disturb the formations inside of it.
The interior of Cascade Cave is about a mile (1.61 km) long and descend to 338 feet (103 m) under the Earth's surface.
It's also filled with impossibly tight and winding tunnels that are just barely passable by an adult person.
After leaving his house that morning, Jason met up with his friends,
Andrew and Adam who were paramedics and Zac who was a chef and volunteer firefighter.
Together, they drove into Port Alberni where they picked up the key for the hatch
and met up with two more friends, Matt and Taylor, who were both computer programmers.
Jason was the oldest of the group by about a decade at 43 years old and the least experienced caver among them.
It was his friend, Andrew who introduced him to the sport
and if there was anyone you'd want to be your teacher, it was Andrew.
Not only was he an expert caver and former cave guide, he had a wiry frame, perfect for caving.
His job as a paramedic also made him invaluable, if anything went wrong during their descent.
From Port Alberni, they drove up a forested unmarked trail for about half a mile before parking in a small clearing.
After parking, they took inventory of all their climbing gear,
which included ropes, harnesses, carabiners, and a small ladder
that they would use to descend into the opening of the cave.
They also brought a small gas stove, food, water and a first aid kit containing a mylar space blanket.
If you've never seen one of these before,
they look almost like a blanket made out of aluminum foil, and they're excellent at preventing heat from escaping.
After checking their gear, they set off into the forest to find the entrance to Cascade Cave.
The entrance to the cave was just a small steel hatch in the ground that you could easily miss
if you aren't specifically looking for it
which is incredible considering what it leads to.
They got to the hatch at about 10:00 AM and reached into the small hole beside it with the key to open the lock.
Next, they fixed their aluminum ladder to two carabiners near the opening,
and then fixed ropes to their harnesses to belay one another down the ladder.
All of them descended into the cave, and then the last person in closed the hatched and locked it once again.
With it closed, the last little bit of light filtering into the cave was now gone.
The key was then tied to the bottom of the ladder
because if it got lost, there would be no way for them to reopen the hatch and exit the cave.
From the surface, the cave descends 30 feet (9.1 m) straight down into the first chamber.
Now relying on their headlamps,
they took their first look around the subterranean abyss that would be their home for the next few hours.
It was damp and cold, just barely above freezing, but this is what they expected,
so they started down the first narrow passageway from the first chamber.
On either side where jagged boulders and the ceiling was dripping with water from all of the moisture.
As they continued deeper into the cave, the dripping water eventually turned into a small stream along the cave floor.
First, it was up to their ankles and then up to their shins, as they crouched through the narrow tunnels.
At around 45 minutes in, Adam decided that he couldn't go any further.
He had tweaked his back a few weeks prior and all of the bending over was making it flare up again.
He said goodbye and good luck to everyone, and then Matt went with him back to the exit of the cave.
Once he was out safely, Matt locked the hatch once again,
and then rejoin the rest of them to continue further into the cave.
For the next hour and a half, they slowly made their way through the narrow passages crawling and sliding.
Inside the cave, the entire group was always within about a hundred feet from the first person to last person.
But most of the time, they couldn't actually see one another because they were obscured by the rock.
Jason was amazed by what he was seeing.
There were over a thousand caves and tunnels on Vancouver Island and they're all completely unique.
Eventually, they made it to the first feature that makes Cascade unique
which is an area known as Bastard's Crawl.
This passage way is too narrow to be able to stand,
so you have to crouch down and crab walk through it.
It's also in a sharp slope downwards, so you have to brace yourself against the ceiling
so you don't slip down the wet rock.
After exiting Bastard's Crawl, they reach the only major waterfall in the cave known as Double Trouble.
The reason that it's called Double Trouble is that the stream coming down through the cave up to that point,
hit a rock at the top of the waterfall and splits it into two streams.
The streams then fall 50 feet (15.24 m) down onto the rocks in a large chamber below.
At the top of the waterfall, they set up their repel lines
and then slowly made their way down the wet, slippery rocks into the chasm.
The entire time, the water was just spraying down on either side
as they tried to keep from slipping on the wet footholds.
As Jason was going down, he could hardly believe how hard his heart was beating.
He wanted a harder challenge though, and that's exactly what he was getting.
After they all finally made it down, they walked little ways away from the waterfall to regroup for some lunch.
They also noticed that it seemed like the water coming down Double Trouble was getting stronger as time went on.
Just before 1:00 PM and about three hours into the cave,
they sat there using their little stove to heat up some beef stew.
Although they were 200 feet (61 m) underground, in the light of just some headlamps,
this is exactly what they hope the day would be.
About 20 minutes later, they started moving again
and with only a quarter mile (0.4 km) left in the cave, they would be at the end in less than an hour.
When they got about 300 feet (91.44 m) from where they ate lunch,
Zac started shivering violently.
After three hours in the cave, the short rest was just long enough for the cold to creep in.
But because they were almost at the end anyway, they all decided that they would turn back together
and head for the exit.
The group retraced their route all the way to Double Trouble
and noticed that the sound of the water was a lot louder and visibly, the streams were a lot larger.
Matt started up the waterfall first, then Arthur would go,
then Jason, Zac, and Andrew would come up from behind as the most experienced caver.
There was also a lot more mud being washed down into the cave and it was sticking to their feet as they walk.
The climb up is always a lot slower than the climb down,
and with how hard the water was coming down now,
it was even more difficult to find footholds on the rock.
After Jason successfully made it up Double Trouble,
he was wondering how the water had gotten so much stronger so quickly.
He wondered how runoff from the rain could be adding so much to the flow of the streams.
Beyond Double Trouble, Jason got in his stomach and started pulling himself up towards Bastard's Crawl
and the water was just pelting him in the face.
With it barely above freezing, the water was like ice, taking his breath away as he pulled himself through it.
After making it past an outcropping, he started into another tight passage that split into two.
He paused for a second, not remembering which way to go
and because he couldn't see anyone up ahead, he decided it would be best to climb back down and ask.
As he climbed back down about 15 feet (4.5 m),
the water suddenly surged and swept his feet out from under him and knocked him onto his back,
completely submerging him in the stream.
He quickly tried to stand up, but because of the way that the water was flowing,
it was sucking him down and his body was acting like a cork in the passageway.
He could barely keep his head out of the water and the pressure was building up around him.
If he didn't get out quickly, the water would shoot him out the passage and over Double Trouble,
50 feet (15.24 m) down onto the rocks below.
He tried to move, but his boot was jammed
and the freezing water washing over him was making him extremely cold and quickly draining all of his strength.
Lying on his back, he realized he needed to call for help,
but when he did, water just flowed into his mouth,
causing him to choke and gasp for air.
After five minutes of struggling in the freezing water, thinking about his wife and kids,
he managed to get out a guttural cry for help.
Zac and Andrew finally caught up and realized that Jason was in serious trouble.
Andrew jumped into action and rushed over to where Jason was stuck.
When he got there, he could barely see Jason's face above the stream of water.
He yelled to him to keep his head above the water and started trying to pull him out
but between the tight space and the rushing water,
it was incredibly difficult to get any leverage.
Jason was also so weak at this point and the water was so loud,
he could barely communicate with Andrew.
So Andrew started shouting specific instructions at Jason, guiding his hands and feet to stable positions
so that he could help to pull him out.
When he started pulling him out, though,
the water washed over Jason's head and forced him back into the recess once again.
They started the process over with Andrew shouting specific positions and Jason struggling through the torrent.
Eventually, Andrew managed to grab a hold of his arm and ripped Jason out through the torrent of water.
When Jason finally emerged,
he was wide eyed and gasping for air, barely able to get out any words.
Although they were out of the worst of it, they were still almost submerged in the stream of water.
Andrew encouraged Jason to keep moving,
but he was in rough shape and wanted a moment to catch his breath.
Andrew knew though they need to keep moving
because every second spent in the water was another second to closer to hypothermia
and the flow of water was still getting stronger by the second.
Finally, Jason finished to wiggle his leg free and they were able to move further into Bastard's Crawl.
Once it was clear that Jason was safe,
Andrew told Zac to stay with Jason while he went up ahead to grab their bags.
About 15 minutes later, he returned with the supply bag containing the mylar blanket
and immediately wrapped it around Jason.
He told Zac that the water was way higher and rushing a lot faster.
so he should go up and join the others and tell them what happened.
If he and Jason weren't behind them in 30 minutes,
they should leave the cave and alert search and rescue.
He also knew that if for some reason he and Jason weren't able to exit that area,
there wasn't enough room for three people to stay.
He then used the gas stove to heat up water and poured it down Jason's clothes to warm him up.
Although he didn't have a thermometer to actually check,
Andrew knew that Jason was likely stage 2 hypothermic.
It was so cold he'd actually stopped shivering and all of the color had drained from his face.
Thankfully, between the ylar blanket and the warm water,
Jason slowly regained color and was eventually warm enough to try to make it out of the cave.
From where they were, under normal circumstances,
it would be about an hour back to the surface.
But as they started climbing out, they had to fight the rushing water with every step.
The final section of Bastard's Crawl had just a four inch (10.2 cm) space between the water and the ceiling.
And this meant that they wouldn't be able to crawl through it and keep their head out of the water.
With that, Andrew knew that they had to turn back and wait until conditions improved
while also hoping that the water didn't fully submerge the cave.
After climbing back down, they found a mostly dry ledge
jutting out at a 45-degree angle with just enough room for both of them.
The stream running through the cave sprayed the ledge on the outer edge
and so Andrew had Jason go on the other side to stay dry.
Andrew then braced himself on the ledge as well and made himself comfortable for the long wait.
Subterranean caves can have little micro climates different from the conditions on the surface.
Inside Cascade, the torrent of water was moving so fast that it was actually windy on the ledge
and eventually, the water was so high that it was just a few feet from where they were sitting.
It was now 6:00 PM and there were still 200 feet (61 m) underground, huddling together under the mylar blanket.
It had also already been three hours since Zac left
and they had no way of knowing whether or not their friends had made it out of the cave.
It's possible that the rest of the cave had been blocked off by water
or someone else had gotten stuck or injured or even worse,
it was possible that no one made it out and no help was coming.
Thankfully though, the rest of the group did make it out of the cave
and after driving into an area with cell service, contacted search and rescue teams at 9:00 PM.
Rescuers immediately went into the cave to try to reach the trapped men,
but the water level was too high and moving too quickly.
They would just have to hope that the water wasn't filling up the cave entirely
and that the two men had found some sort of shelter deeper into the cave.
Inside the cave, Jason and Andrew kept their headlamps off to conserve the batteries
and so they sat there in complete darkness, wondering if anyone was coming to help them.
Hours went by and the water slowly crept higher and higher.
They couldn't sleep because the 45 degree angle they were on
would mean that if they didn't focus on keeping their footing,
they would slip off the ledge and into the water.
Throughout the night, they would check in with each other every 20 minutes or so.
And then finally at 5:00 AM, the water looked as though it had started to recede.
They waited just a little bit longer to make sure it was safe and then made another attempt at exiting.
After sitting in the exact same position for 12 hours and without sleep,
it was incredibly difficult to get moving again.
Over the course of 90 minutes, crawling on all fours and wading through water up to their chest,
they finally made it close enough to the exit to see lights off in the distance.
They called out to the rescuers and one rescuer called back, "I love you!" in sheer relief at the side of the men.
After almost 24 hours trapped in Cascade Cave,
they fixed their harnesses to the belay rope and slowly climbed the aluminum ladder towards the surface.
In true Canadian fashion, Andrew greeted them with a cheers
as he finally poked his head out of the 30 foot (9.1 m) shaft.
The following year on May 7th, the group of men returned to Cascade Cave
to retrieve some of their equipment and to get redemption for their failed attempt.
They parked in the clearing once more and made their way to the steel hatch.
Since their descent the year prior, no other groups had gone to the cave
And so they had to brush off the dirt that was now covering the entrance.
Andrew reached down and unlocked the hatch as he did the year before,
the ground much drier than their last attempt.
They fixed their harnesses, their rope, and the aluminum ladder once again,
and Jason descended back into the cave that almost took his life.
As they moved their way through the cave this time,
the torrential stream from the year before was just a tiny trickle of water.
Instead of wet, slippery rocks, they had rough, dry handholds,
making it much easier to make their way through the cave this time.
After the harrowing ordeal from the year before,
the group successfully made it out of Cascade without incident.
if you made it this far, I just want to thank you for watching.
This is part nine of the series Cave Exploring Gone Wrong
so if you enjoyed this video, you may want to check out the other videos in the series.
I would also highly encourage you to check out the video of this instant that I'm gonna link in the description.
Andrew had a GoPro mounted to his head and so the rescue was all caught on camera.
The video footage of the torrent of water that Jason was stuck in is harrowing to say the least.
if you enjoyed this video, I'd really appreciate it if you gave it a like and a subscribe if you aren't already
so you don't miss any of my weekly uploads.
Once again, thank you so much for watching
and hopefully, I will see you in the next one.