In the bestselling tradition of classic adventure literature, BLIND DESCENT is the true story of the last great terrestrial discovery: the Mt. Everest of caves. The deepest cave on earth was a prize that had remained unclaimed for centuries, long after every other ultimate discovery had been made: both Poles by 1912, Everest in 1958, the Challenger Deep in 1961. In 1969 we even walked on the moon. And yet as late as 2000, the earth’s deepest cave—the supercave--remained undiscovered. 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 are locked in a race to find the bottom of the world. Bold, heroic American Bill Stone is committed to the vast Cheve Cave in southern Mexico. Mysterious and deadly even by supercave standards, Cheve was the site of ancient human sacrifices and would claim modern lives as well. Around the world, legendary Ukrainian explorer Alexander Klimchouk is Stone’s polar opposite in temperament and style, but every bit his equal in scientific expertise, physical bravery, and sheer determination. His target is Krubera, a freezing nightmare of a supercave in the Republic of Georgia, where underground dangers are compounded by the horrors of separatist war in this former Soviet republic. White-hot, waged for both science and fame, Stone and Klimchouk’s rivalry was reminiscent of Scott and Amundsen’s heroic and tragic race to the South Pole in 1911.

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 that illuminates—literally—for the first time a pursuit that makes even extreme mountaineering and ocean exploration pale by comparison. “The Mt. Everest Of Caves” is no exaggeration. Supercavers spent months in multiple camps almost two vertical miles deep and many more miles from the caves’ exits. Explorers 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.

With caving experience himself, James M. Tabor’s unprecedented access to expedition logs, journals, photographs, and video footage, as well as many hours of personal interviews with surviving participants, makes The Great Cave Race an unforgettable addition to the literature of discovery and adventure. It is also 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.