Blind Descent

Blind Descent: The Quest to Determine the Deepest Place on Earth by James M. Tabor, Random House, 2010. 

Deep Caves

This is about the competition to find the deepest cave on Earth. It focuses mainly on Oaxaca State in Mexico and the Caucasus Mountains.  Note: Aguacate & Charco & Cheve are neighboring caves in the Sierra Juárez mountains in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Diving

One of the main challenges in exploring deep caves is the sumps: parts of caves that are filled with water. This requires scuba gear. An alternative to the familiar oxygen tanks is something called a rebreather. Rebreathers scrub carbon dioxide from the exhaled air.

Caves

• Aguacate River Sink Cave in the Sierra Juárez mountains in Oaxaca, Mexico. 

• Sistema Charco in the Sierra Juárez mountains in Oaxaca, Mexico. 

• Sistema Cheve in the Sierra Juárez mountains in Oaxaca, Mexico. 

• Sistema Huautla Cave in Sierra Mazateca mountains in Oaxaca, Mexico

• Krubera Cave in Arabika Massif in Abkhazia in the Western Caucasus

Dangers

• Asphyxiation

• Drowning

• Falls

• Hallucinations

• Histoplasmosis fungal infection

• Hypothermia

• Lost in the dark

• Poison gases

• Rapture (nitrogen narcosis)

• Scorpions

• Snakes

• Strangulation by ones ropes

Equipment

• scuba gear

• oxygen tanks

• rebreathers

• rappel rack

• carbide lamps

• batteries

• mechanical ascenders

• winches

• harnesses

• ropes