Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth

Product Information

I was not quite sure how I felt about he "justified/defended" his leaving his family to climb Everest. While he justifies his climbing mountains as a combination of how he is wired, how he is created, with his experiences in the military, he also shares how he used his mountain climbing to raise money and awareness for various charities. So it was a mix of what seemed like valid reasons for climbing (raising awareness and money) and "not-so-valid" (the thrill, the excitement, the challenge). His children crying like they did as he was saying good-bye to them, followed by his wife's struggles, and ending with his leaving a "final message" to his family in case he died did not sit well with me. Had he still been in the military, that would have been one thing. But just the fear and sorrow that he put his children through, their sobbing because they were worried they'd never see him again, followed by the justifications he gave, just did not "feel right" to me. However, each of us has "our own race to run" and has to answer for what we said or didn't say, did or didn't do, so I cannot throw too many stones (as it were). He has accomplished far more than I ever will. The first part of the book tells about the harrowing rescue effort to extract Frieda and is a heartstopping tale of extreme adventure . When Anna learns that the accident might actually have been an attempt on the woman's life, the tension mounts. Which of the caving team did it? Leisure, Travel + (2015-10-15). "This Is What It Looks Like To Summit Mount Everest Alone". Huffington Post . Retrieved 2017-03-16. Mount Everest climber on Nepal quake, Everest avalanche". Fox Business. 2015-04-27 . Retrieved 2017-03-16. Blind Descent captures the challenge and characteristics of supercaving. It requires at least the preparation of an ascent to Mt. Everest; the endurance of a trek across the South Pole; the athleticism to endure a triathlon; and the perseverance to know, that if injured, it’s much easier for an extraction if several of your long bones are broken and folded over to conserve space in the wormy pitches and oblique faults you’ll be pushed and pulled along like a ball, eventually reaching the top several days later.

Park ranger Anna Pigeon is assigned to go down into Lechugilla Caverns in Carlsbad National Park, New Mexico, to rescue a fellow ranger who has gotten trapped. But when events turn tragic, Anna begins to suspect that a simple accident may not have been so simple after all. And solving a crime becomes much more complex trapped underground with someone who may be willing to kill again. This one had lots of angles… troubled marriages and former lovers… shady business practices… park politics. There were so many possible suspects, I was left guessing up until the end. You and a few team members began descending into a 10-mile deep Martian cave. During the descent, the elevator crashes, and only a few of you survive. There will never be a cave that is "the world's deepest cave", only "the world's deepest cave so far". How can we know if we can't see? I've grown to really love adventure and survival books and thought this would definitely be an interesting read in the genre. I wasn't disappointed. Blind Descent tells of cave exploration adventures in 2 of the world's deepest caves. I was initially concerned that the author wouldn't be able to make me see the cave in my mind as he told the story and that the author couldn't possibly hold my interest throughout the entire book, but I was absolutely enthralled and found myself daydreaming of cave diving between reads. I think the part about his descent was crazy. I cannot imagine what that had to be like, descending the tallest mountain in the world after having lost one's vision. It was probably "the best part" of the book, but it was also funny because I did not get a sense of "danger" or "impending doom" from him. I realize he survived and there is probably that aspect interfering with any sense of danger, but I have read other books where I know the person survived and yet there were still suspenseful moments in the book. I don't know how to describe it; it is just that the tone did not completely match the dangers the author actually faced.

What Curators Say

I know that I will never have the opportunity to climb the tallest mountain in the world or swim the longest river or even visit another planet, but that doesn't mean I don't think about what it must be like. When I saw this on sale (free) a few days ago, I snatched it up. The tag line is great - Alone and Blind on Everest? I'm all in. Does their circadian rhythm re-establish itself immediately on surfacing and having a good night's sleep or does the caving rhythm persist? Are there any long-term effects from prolonged darkness and being deep underground? A subterranean world right beneath Mars, full of alien life and surrounded by dense jungles and bizarre weather. Having completed the demo, we've reached a significant milestone. It's been a long journey, but now we're prepared to move on to the next phase: pitching our game to publishers. Over the coming months, this will be our primary focus. As a result, we may not be able to provide monthly updates every month, since we won't be working on the base game for some time. However, we'll make sure to keep you informed whenever there's important news to share.

This particular caving book chronicles (as much as possible) deep cave discoveries in the Cheve Cave of Mexico and the Krubera cave in The Republic of Georgia. The caves are very different and so are the leaders of the expeditions. The Mexican cave is climatically normal and fairly open while the Georgian one is very cold and filled with very tight, slippery spaces. The leader of the Cheve Cave expeditions (an American) is hot-headed and lusty while the leader of the Krubera expeditions (a Ukranian) is level-headed and systematic. The parts that shined for me were his examples of how his Navy training helped him at certain times. Those are the types of details that make the reader care and want to read more. This is the first Nevada Barr book I've read, and I've only been meaning to read it for 8 years. she writes murder mysteries set at different national parks,and this one happens to be set at my park! So ever since I started working at Carlsbad, visitors have been asking if I've read this. I can't believe I finished this book. While the underlying content was good, the pacing and organization was off. A big chunk on one team (Stone’s), a small chunk of the other (Klimchouk’s), mingle them a bit at the end, and blah. I’m glad I did push through to get to read about Klimchouk’s experience as an Ukranian.

About This Game

Much of the action in this book takes place in the confined spaces underground, and Barr spends a lot of time setting up the mystery and going into excruciating detail on the difficulties of exploring such a cave. I felt a little claustrophobic myself a few times. No surprise, books like Blind Descent are all time favorites for me. Adventurous, outdoorsy, and oh-so-delightfully-morbid, this trip down the world’s deepest supercave was everything an (admittedly weird) girl could ask for. Enormous underground cliffs were rappelled, sumps were navigated, a few casualties were endured… all in a noble, twisted effort to get closer to Hell than any other human being has ever been before. Harvest resources and craft new tools, climb anywhere dynamically, row the underground seas with your boat and build structures that help you overcome obstacles along your way. If you are interested in participating in the demo, please join our Discord channel to see more details about it. It will be a closed demo where we only invite active Discord members.