He\u2019s not taking anything for granite ever again.<\/p>\n
The Brooklyn man who was \u201cjammed\u201d in a slim crevice of an upstate cave<\/a> for seven hours last month in a harrowing situation similar to the film \u201c147 Hours\u201d said the terrifying ordeal came down to one tiny slip-up.<\/p>\n Aidan Kirsch \u2014 who revealed himself to The Post as the mystery caver \u2014 said he was just 400 feet from exiting Merlin\u2019s Cave in Columbia County when he lost his footing and wedged himself between two tight rocks, he told The Post Tuesday.<\/p>\n Aidan Kirsch revealed himself to The Post as the mystery man who was trapped in an upstate cave last month. Paul Martinka for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cThe funniest part is we were basically done. We\u2019d been in the cave exploring for five hours, and then we\u2019re maybe ten minutes from the exit \u2026 and my foot slips,\u201d Kirsch, 26, recalled of the incident, which occurred while he was bellycrawling through a slippery stretch known as the bear trap.<\/p>\n \u201cI was trying to free myself, but I just ended up sliding down more and getting more stuck. By the time I realized that it was a serious stick, it was a little bit too late.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirsch, of Bushwick, had been exploring the grotto as part of a caving weekend extravaganza hosted by the regional National Speleological Society.<\/p>\n The non-profit worker had already visited a series of other larger caves over the previous days, and planned to cap off the exhilarating weekend by scouring the underground waterfalls and stalagmites that make Merlin\u2019s Cave notorious.<\/p>\n It also marked a serious intensity escalation for Kirsch, who has been caving for just two seasons. <\/p>\n Kirsch has been caving for two seasons. Courtesy of Aidan Kirsch<\/p>\n Merlin\u2019s Cave is so treacherous that a minimum group of three cavers is required for excursions and all must be equipped with a helmet, three sources of light and knee pads, according to the Northeastern Cave Conservancy<\/a> (NCC).<\/p>\n \u201cMerlin\u2019s cave is definitely more technical. The first few hundred feet, you\u2019re crawling flat on your stomach, getting through twisting caverns, and then after that, you come to a mini waterfall that you have to boulder down carefully,\u201d explained Kirsch, originally of Connecticut, adding that the cave also involves layers of mud and even a small ravine. <\/p>\n The group of seven was on their way out of the five-hour exploration when the major slip-up occurred: a miscalculation he chalked up to exhaustion from the physically draining weekend. <\/p>\n Courtesy of Aidan Kirsch<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t being as careful,\u201d Kirsch admitted.<\/p>\n The Brooklynite was pinned between the two boulders at his chest and back in what rescuers say were \u201cbasically designed [to] the exact shape of him\u201d \u2014 like a scene from the James Franco movie \u201c147 Hours.\u201d<\/p>\n But unlike Franco and real-life mountaineer Aron Ralston, Kirsch had plenty of quick-witted cavers to aid him.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t being as careful,\u201d Kirsch admitted. Paul Martinka for NY Post<\/p>\n The few that were behind him in the cave rushed to grab a pickax that the NCC keeps stashed in the cave for emergencies \u2014 but the rocks refused to be chipped away at.<\/p>\n The cavers \u2014 who were able to climb out over the wedged Kirsch \u2014 wrapped him in a \u201ccocoon\u201d of blankets to ward off the 50-degree temperatures and called 911 for help.<\/p>\n