Blind descent
by James M. Tabor · first published 2010
5mentions
1recommended by
5HN commenters
2010–2023first – last mentioned
20% recommend80% neutral
This is the story of the men and women who risked everything to find the deepest cave on Earth, earning their place in history beside the likes of Peary, Amundsen, Hillary, and Armstrong. Tabor focuses particularly on the heroic efforts of Bill Stone in the vast Cheve Cave of southern Mexico and Alexander Klimchouk in the supercave Krubera of the Republic of Georgia. Stone -- Klimchouk -- Game over.
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I highly recommend reading Blind Descent for the armchair caver.
on “Ellison's Cave” ↗The parent comment has a typo in book author name. The book is actually "Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Cave on Earth" by James M. Tabor. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812979494 (Curiously, Google search for "James Talbot Blind Descent" points to this very Hacker News thread.)
on “Maya ritual cave ‘untouched’ for 1k years stuns archaeologists” ↗In 2018, I read James M. Tabor's Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Cave on Earth (pub. 2010), which particularly focused on Bill Stone's and ALexander Klimchouk's respective explorations. (Contrary to perhaps popular understanding,…
on “RePalm” ↗I once got so claustrophobic just by reading a book about caving that I had to put it away: Blind Descent by James Talbot. It describes the quest of a couple of maniacs to explore the deepest caves on earth under hellish circumstances. No light for weeks, no communication with the surface, camping against…
on “Maya ritual cave ‘untouched’ for 1k years stuns archaeologists” ↗Have you read Blind Descent? One of the things that most struck me was that cave diving is more dangerous, fatality-rate-wise, than space exploration.
on “Everest is littered with dead, exposed bodies” ↗