Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home

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 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. Thirty years after the disaster, Nando tells his own story with remarkable candor and depth of feeling. This 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.