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A Spanish climber sees the light after spending 500 days isolated in a cave

2023-04-14T18:54:37.124Z


The athlete entered a cave in the Spanish town of Motril at the age of 48 and came out after turning 50. She defined her experience as "excellent and unbeatable".


Beatriz Flamini, an elite Spanish athlete, mountaineer and climber, left this Friday the cave in which she remained alone for 500 days at a depth of 230 feet (70 meters), without being able to determine the passage of time, a challenge that she defined as "excellent and second to none."

Sometimes dazed and always smiling, Flamini gave a press conference shortly after to recount this challenge that has given her "difficult and very beautiful" moments for more than 16 months, in which she had no way of finding out the course of the days.

The athlete Beatriz Flamini on her way out of the cave in Motril, Spain. Alba Feixas / EFE

The athlete acknowledged that during the time she was underground she experienced complicated moments such as an invasion of flies or auditory hallucinations, but that the "trick" to face extreme situations is to focus "on the here and now."

Without yet knowing what happened in the world during this time, the athlete says she is "anchored on November 21, 2021", the date she entered, and assured that she never thought of leaving.

"In fact, she didn't want to go out," she claimed.

[They discover a prehistoric human skeleton in a cave in the Riviera Maya flooded in the last ice age]

Flamini acknowledged that he was aware of the risks, especially psychological ones, that he was facing, but nothing that the psychologists wrote down has happened to him, except "auditory hallucinations because you are silent and the brain invents them."

He did need to have the journalists' questions repeated on occasion about the loss of short-term memory that these situations create, which will serve as mental strength training for other projects he has in mind.

The athlete, who entered a cave in the Spanish town of Motril at the age of 48 and came out at the age of 50, had the support of the speleologist Francisco Hoyos, coordinator of the assistance who has cared for her in the shadows.

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Early today two speleologists and a psychologist went down to the cave to provide coverage for the athlete on her way out, which lasted about 40 minutes.

At the exit, he thanked the professionalism of the group of psychologists, speleologists and physical trainers involved in the project because without them it would not have been possible, he said.

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During all this time, she was leaving video cards that she recorded in an area of ​​the cave programmed with speleologists, where food delivery and garbage removal also took place, without any communication.

This experience is part of the Timecave project, which began two years ago, when this passionate solo expedition to the highest peaks in the world and an expert in self-sufficiency contacted the producer Dokumalia to challenge her to remain alone and without outside contact in a cave for 500 days.

The producer recorded her daily life 70 meters underground, which research groups from the universities of Granada and Almería have closely followed to study how social isolation and extreme temporal disorientation affect the perception of time.

Beatriz Flamini in a video recorded in the cave. Dokumalia/EFE

In addition, this challenge entails neuropsychological changes due to loneliness, the absence of natural light, and cognitive and social isolation.

Spanish media claimed that the athlete set a new world record, but that claim could not be immediately confirmed.

Blinking and smiling as he hugged his supporters, Flamini asked who would buy a round of beers to celebrate his feat.

She also asked to be excused because she needed a shower, since she had not bathed in more than 16 months.

[An Argentine has lived in a cave for 40 years] 

Noting that those attending the press conference were wearing masks, to protect her from infection, Flamini joked that it made her feel as if we were still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 1987, Italian Maurizio Montalbini set a world record by spending 210 days in a cave.

Internet searches turn up reports of a Serb spending more than 460 days underground in 2016.

With information from

AP

and

EFE

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2023-04-14

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