The Utah County Sheriff’s Office has begun to seal off the Nutty Putty Cave and expects to seal it off permanently by the end of the week.

“We are expediting moving forward with the closure of that cave,” Sheriff Jim Tracy said.

The cave will have two plugs, one that seals off the area where John Jones’s body now lies, and one that seals off the cave. Tracy said the lower plug will be made of rubbled rock and placed near Jones’s body. It will be located below the ladder area in the cave in a narrow passage, sealing off the area that breaks into small fingers. The plug sealing the cave will be made of concrete and will stretch from the bottom of what Tracy called the “funnel” opening to the gate that was previously installed by Timpanogos Grotto.

Tracy said the gate itself will be preserved with plywood and rocks. There are no plans to ever re-open the cave, but Tracy said the main plug is being constructed in a way that will seal the cave, but will not be irreversible.

“Anything done within that plug has not made the cave permanently inaccessible,” he said.

The decision to close the cave came Friday after discussions with several agencies, as well as John Jones’s family. Jones, 26, died Nov. 26 after being trapped for more than 27 hours in an unnamed portion of the cave. Tracy said the clearest indication of what happened, from his conversations with rescuers, is that Jones went into the area and soon realized it was becoming too narrow. He continued on, looking for a place to turn around, when he slipped on the wet, slippery rock and slid several feet to where he became firmly stuck.

“He evidently lost his handholds and slid down,” he said.

Tracy said there has been significant backlash against closing the cave, but it is a decision with which his office will follow through. It is not a decision that will make everyone happy, but it serves all parties the best.

“It’s not a win-win-win for anybody,” he said. “There have been compromises.”

The sheriff’s office is closing the cave, but the decision came from the owner of the property, the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. John Andrews, chief legal counsel for SITLA, said the decision was a unanimous one made between the sheriff’s office, search and rescue, Timpanogos Grotto, local government and the family. Once the decision was made, SITLA authorized the sheriff’s office to carry it out.

There have been considerable pleas to SITLA to change the decision as well, but Andrews said the consensus from local authorities outweighed opponents.

“We have received probably 100 or so public comments from the caving community,” he said.

There is a Facebook group set up to save the cave, called Save Nutty Putty Cave. As of Wednesday evening it had 352 members. Group members have been posting comments with contact information for SITLA as well as discussion about the cave, Jones’s death and safety issues.

Different options were weighed in the process, but this is the one that works best, Andrews said. This is the first time SITLA has taken such action, he said.

Although people have broken into the cave in the past after it was closed, Andrews said he expects this closure to keep out all intruders.

“There’s a difference between getting through a gate and a true permanent closure,” he said.

Michael Leavitt, cave access manager, said cavers are concerned both with being able to use the cave in the future and protecting it from damage. He said he would stand with any group who is interested in protecting the cave itself from harm during closure.

“They must take every precaution to not damage the ecosystem,” he said.

Many in the community also want to be able to use the cave recreationally in the future, including Leavitt. He said he would love to go in Nutty Putty if it ever opened again, but he couldn’t see a way for it to reopen with the liability involved.

Leavitt said he has always loved the cave, but he understands how the decision to close it was made. He also said the cave is not public property, and SITLA is not obligated to allow people into the cave, especially after a death.

“That’s where [protesters] really don’t have a leg to stand on,” he said.

Newsletter