Beyond the Deep : The Deadly Descent into the World's Most Treacherous Cave

by Stone, William; Ende, Barbara am; Paulsen, Monte

• ISBN13: 9780446527095
• ISBN10: 0446527092
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-06-18
• Publisher: Grand Central Pub

Summary

A harrowing, subterranean Into Thin Air, BEYOND THE DEEP is the perilous odyssey of the cavers who explored the Mt. Everest of the undergroundthe Huautla.The Huautla in Mexico is the deepest cave in the Western Hemisphere, possibly the world. Shafts reach skyscraper-depths, caverns are stadium-sized, and sudden floods can drown divers in an instant. With a two-decade obsession, William Stone and his 44-member team entered the sinkhole at Sotano de San Augustin. The first camp settled 2,328 feet below ground in a cavern where headlamps couldnt even illuminate the walls and ceiling. The second camp teeter-ed precariously above an underground canyon where two subterranean rivers collided. But beyond that lay the unknown territorya flooded corridor that had blocked all previous comers, claimed a divers life, and drove the rest of the team back. Except for William Stone and Barbara am Ende, who forged on for 18 more days, with no hope of rescue, to set the record for the deepest cave dive in the Western Hemisphere.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xiii
Authors' Note	xv
Prologue	1	(16)
Chapter One	17	(27)
Chapter Two	44	(21)
Chapter Three	65	(24)
Chapter Four	89	(33)
Chapter Five	122	(25)
Chapter Six	147	(28)
Chapter Seven	175	(22)
Chapter Eight	197	(21)
Chapter Nine	218	(29)
Chapter Ten	247	(30)
Chapter Eleven	277	(22)
Epilogue	299	(12)
Glossary	311	(8)
1994 San Agustin Expedition Personnel	319	(2)
1994 San Agustin Expedition Sponsors	321	(4)
Summary of Major Expeditions to Sistema Huautla, 1965-2001	325	(8)
Deep Caves of the World: May 1994	333	(3)
Deep Caves of the World: Fall 2001	336	(3)
Index	339