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ELBERTA, Utah County — A team of more than 40 rescuers are attempting to free a man stuck in the Nutty Putty cave.

The Stansbury Park man, 26, is stuck about 125 feet below the surface and as much as 700 feet into the cave, said Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon. The man — currently in a “head down position” — has been stuck in the cave since about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Cannon says crews are using air-powered tools to chip away at the rock to try and pull him out.

The man is part of a group of 11 people who began exploring the cave about 6 p.m. Tuesday. He got stuck in an area known as “Bob’s Push,” near an area known as “The Birth Canal,” which Cannon described as an “L-shaped pinch point.”

Rescuers have been able to move him about 12 feet since he got stuck, but he is in an area that is about 18 inches wide and between 8 and 10 inches high. Cannon said the stuck man is about 6 feet tall and weighs between 180 and 200 pounds.

Cannon said the man’s morale is “pretty good under the circumstances.”

Crews from the Utah County sheriff’s search and rescue team, fire officials from Goshen and Santaquin and caving experts are on the scene to offer assistance at the cave, located on the west side of Utah Lake.

The Nutty Putty Cave is actually a hole on the top of a hill about seven miles west of state Road 68.

In 2004, three rescues were conducted at the Nutty Putty Cave. In each case, explorers had become stuck and were extracted with no serious injuries. The incidents, however, led the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, which owns the land, to make the cave a “controlled access area.” The now-gated caves are currently managed by Timpanogos Grotto, the local chapter of the National Speleological Society. Permits are required to access it and those who enter are supposed to have proper equipment and proper training.

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