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Search - Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
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Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home Author: |
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Book Description:
In the first hours there was nothing, no fear or sadness, just a black and perfect silence.
Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team, as well as their family members and supporters, to an exhibition game in Chile had crashed somewhere deep in the Andes. He soon learned that many were dead or dying—among them his own mother and sister. Those who remained were stranded on a lifeless glacier at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, with no supplies and no means of summoning help. They struggled to endure freezing temperatures, deadly avalanches, and then the devastating news that the search for them had been called off.
As time passed and Nando’s thoughts turned increasingly to his father, who he knew must be consumed with grief, Nando resolved that he must get home or die trying. He would challenge the Andes, even though he was certain the effort would kill him, telling himself that even if he failed he would die that much closer to his father. It was a desperate decision, but it was also his only chance. So Nando, an ordinary young man with no disposition for leadership or heroism, led an expedition up the treacherous slopes of a snow-capped mountain and across forty-five miles of frozen wilderness in an attempt to find help.
Thirty years after the disaster Nando tells his story with remarkable candor and depth of feeling. Miracle in the Andes—a first person account of the crash and its aftermath—is more than a riveting tale of true-life adventure: it is a revealing look at life at the edge of death and a meditation on the limitless redemptive power of love.
From the Hardcover edition.
Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team, as well as their family members and supporters, to an exhibition game in Chile had crashed somewhere deep in the Andes. He soon learned that many were dead or dying—among them his own mother and sister. Those who remained were stranded on a lifeless glacier at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, with no supplies and no means of summoning help. They struggled to endure freezing temperatures, deadly avalanches, and then the devastating news that the search for them had been called off.
As time passed and Nando’s thoughts turned increasingly to his father, who he knew must be consumed with grief, Nando resolved that he must get home or die trying. He would challenge the Andes, even though he was certain the effort would kill him, telling himself that even if he failed he would die that much closer to his father. It was a desperate decision, but it was also his only chance. So Nando, an ordinary young man with no disposition for leadership or heroism, led an expedition up the treacherous slopes of a snow-capped mountain and across forty-five miles of frozen wilderness in an attempt to find help.
Thirty years after the disaster Nando tells his story with remarkable candor and depth of feeling. Miracle in the Andes—a first person account of the crash and its aftermath—is more than a riveting tale of true-life adventure: it is a revealing look at life at the edge of death and a meditation on the limitless redemptive power of love.
From the Hardcover edition.
Members who requested this book also requested:
Genres:
- Biographies & Memoirs >> Memoirs
- Biographies & Memoirs >> Travel
- Biographies & Memoirs >> Specific Groups >> Adventurers & Explorers
- Biographies & Memoirs >> General
- History >> World >> Transportation >> Aviation
- Sports >> General
- Sports >> Biographies >> General
- Sports >> Mountaineering >> General
- Sports >> Mountaineering >> Mountain Climbing
- Travel >> Specialty Travel >> Adventure >> General
- Outdoors & Nature >> Hiking & Camping >> Instructional
Top Member Book Reviews
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
I had never heard of the story of the rugby players that survived in the Andes, despite all odds, for 70 days until the movie came out in the 90's. For some reason I was fascinated with the story and convinced my friends to go with me and see the movie on opening night. The movie was so crowded that we had to sit in the aisle of the theater because there were no more seats left. For the next 2 hours though, I was transfixed and amazed at the story being told on the screen and when I got home I still could not wrap my mind around the fact that the story was true.
Shortly after, I found and read Alive by Piers Paul Read and was more impressed with their story than I was after the movie. How these men survived was even more unimaginable after reading the book. The movie made things seem like they happened in minutes, days when in reality it was hours and weeks. I had no idea how long it took Canessa and Nando to reach the valley and what they really had to endure to get there. Even still, in Alive everything still wasn't fully hashed.
Miracle in the Andes is an astonishing book. I read it in just over a day - it would have been done in less than one but New Years Eve isn't a day typically to sit and read an entire novel.
Nando's story has been heard before, but never in this detail. In the previous telling of their tale, one had to use a little imagination to put themselves into the minds of the men. In this novel, there is no imagination needed, you simply are there. You are Nando, holding your beloved sister as she slowly slips away before you. You are the man that almost dies in an avalanche. You are the man that conquered a mountain, to despair at the sight at the summit and you are the man that finally found salvation by way of a farmer in the middle of nowhere. The story itself is gripping and intense, even with the most rudimentary writing, the story would have power. However, the writing in this novel is far beyond rudimentary and the story literally explodes off the pages.
In the end, this story is about how an ordinary man was able to go to extraordinary lengths with the simple power of love.
Shortly after, I found and read Alive by Piers Paul Read and was more impressed with their story than I was after the movie. How these men survived was even more unimaginable after reading the book. The movie made things seem like they happened in minutes, days when in reality it was hours and weeks. I had no idea how long it took Canessa and Nando to reach the valley and what they really had to endure to get there. Even still, in Alive everything still wasn't fully hashed.
Miracle in the Andes is an astonishing book. I read it in just over a day - it would have been done in less than one but New Years Eve isn't a day typically to sit and read an entire novel.
Nando's story has been heard before, but never in this detail. In the previous telling of their tale, one had to use a little imagination to put themselves into the minds of the men. In this novel, there is no imagination needed, you simply are there. You are Nando, holding your beloved sister as she slowly slips away before you. You are the man that almost dies in an avalanche. You are the man that conquered a mountain, to despair at the sight at the summit and you are the man that finally found salvation by way of a farmer in the middle of nowhere. The story itself is gripping and intense, even with the most rudimentary writing, the story would have power. However, the writing in this novel is far beyond rudimentary and the story literally explodes off the pages.
In the end, this story is about how an ordinary man was able to go to extraordinary lengths with the simple power of love.
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