Description
The deepest cave on earth was a prize that had remained unclaimed for centuries, long after every other ultimate discovery had been made. This is the story of the men and women who risked everything to find it, earning their place in history beside the likes of Peary, Amundsen, Hillary, and Armstrong. In 2004, two great scientist-explorers attempted to find the bottom of the world. Bold, American Bill Stone was committed to the vast Cheve Cave, located in southern Mexico and deadly even by supercave standards. On the other side of the globe, legendary Ukrainian explorer Alexander Klimchouk - Stone s opposite in temperament and style - had targeted Krubera, a freezing nightmare of a supercave in the Republic of Georgia. "Blind Descent" explores both the brightest and darkest aspects of the timeless human urge to discover - to be first. It is also a thrilling epic about a pursuit that makes even extreme mountaineering and ocean exploration pale by comparison. These supercavers spent months in multiple camps almost two vertical miles deep and many more miles from their caves exits. They had to contend with thousand-foot drops, deadly flooded tunnels, raging whitewater rivers, monstrous waterfalls, mile-long belly crawls, and much more. Perhaps even worse were the psychological horrors produced by weeks plunged into absolute, perpetual darkness, beyond all hope of rescue, including a particularly insidious derangement called "The Rapture". "Blind Descent" is a testament to human survival and endurance - and to two extraordinary men whose relentless pursuit of greatness led them to heights of triumph and depths of tragedy neither could have imagined.
About the Author
FROZEN SOLID,the second novel in the Hallie Leland thriller series, will be published by Random House/Ballantine in March, 2013. Hallie travels to the South Pole to complete research begun by a scientist who died inexplicably. She quickly uncovers a cabal bent on changing the earth as we know it. Find much more at www.jamesmtabor.com.
James M. Tabor (www.jamesmtabor.com) was born in Virginia, graduated from the University of Vermont, and has lived in Vermont since 1980. He earned an MFA from Johns Hopkins University and is a former Contributing Editor to Outside and SKI Magazines. His writing has also appeared in TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Smithsonian, Barron s,and many other national magazines. He was the writer and host of the national PBS series, "The Great Outdoors." In 2007, he was the co-creator and Executive Producer for the History Channel Special, "Journey to the Center of the World."
He is the bestselling,international award-winning author of FOREVER ON THE MOUNTAIN (2007, and BLIND DESCENT (2010).
From James Tabor:
"I received my MFA in the depths of a recession and couldn t find a job to save my life. With a wife and new baby, and needing a paycheck, I joined the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C.--then notorious as "The Murder Capitol of America." Policing in D.C. was exciting, exhausting,and dangerous. For a white, upper middle class, son of the South,(my great-grandfather Russell Tabor was a cavalryman with Jeb Stuart) it was also an incredibly valuable, heart-opening, and rewarding experience. To put it bluntly, a lot of cops were dying then, and if incredible African American training officers had not taken me under their wings, I might not be writing to you now.) I hope to write a memoir of those days on the street at some point--a kind of "Training Day" in reverse. Or maybe it ll morph into a novel.
That was one kind of extreme experience. Over the decades, research for my nonfiction writing introduced me to a lot more: mountaineering, hang gliding, scuba diving, caving, horse wrangling,windsurfing,and others. Those close encounters with what Hunter S. Thompson astutely called "edgework" now inform my fiction, as well.
My website, jamesmtabor.com, has lots more details about the books, me, and my life. I ll end by saying that I love hearing from readers, both fans and critics, and promise to respond to every note I get. (Not always quickly, but I will respond.)"
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