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 Booklist In 1972, a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and their families and supporters to an exhibition game in Chile crashed in the Andes. Parrado was one of the survivors, and he tells the story of their 72 days struggling against freezing weather and dangerous avalanches. The author's mother and sister were among those killed in the crash. Parrado was unconscious for three days, but after two months he set out on a 10-day journey in subzero cold to seek help. He describes how he and two other survivors climbed up the slopes and then back down: oxygen-starved bodies, dehydration, loose rocks, patches of ice, and a feeling of hopelessness. The survivors who had been left on the mountain were rescued by helicopter crews. It is an amazing story of bravery and courage.George CohenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Review ?Miracle in the Andes is an astonishing account of an unimaginable ordeal. In straightforward, staggeringly honest prose, Nando Parrado tells us what it took-and what it actually felt like-to survive high in the Andes for 72 days after having been given up for dead. If you pick this book up, you will not be able to put it down.? -Jon Krakauer, author ofUnder the Banner of Heaven,Into Thin Air, andInto the Wild?Unlike the cloud that obscured the mountainside, there is no haze enshrouding the meaning of life for Nando Parrado. It was in the love for his father that Nando found the motivation to survive for over two months on a Chilean glacier. As he makes his unbelievable traverse of the Andes, Nando also demonstrates the depth of his courage, faith, and perseverance that help him later transform his losses into a source of inspiration for others. Connecting our struggles to his, we readers can use Nando as our beacon and see that there is a way out of our ?own personal Andes.?? -Aron Ralston, author ofBetween a Rock and a Hard Place?Nando Parrado?s haunting experience in the Andes-grippingly, honestly, and insightfully told-ranks with the most dramatic survival stories of the last two centuries.? -Peter Stark, author ofLast Breath: The Limits of Adventure?Miracle in the Andes is an extraordinary book. Everybody?s philosophical hypotheticals were Nando Parrado?s real life experiences. Would