A 50-year-old Spanish extreme athlete completed a 500-day challenge in which she lived 230 feet (70 metres) deep in a cave west of Granada with little contact with the outside world.
Elite mountaineer Beatriz Flamini, wearing dark glasses and grinning as she adjusted to the springtime light in southern Spain, told reporters that time had gone fast and she did not want to come out.
According to Flamini’s support group, she broke the world record for the longest period of time spent in a cave during an experiment that was observed by researchers looking at human cognition and circadian rhythms.
A team of psychologists, scientists, cave experts, and physical trainers kept an eye on Flamini to gain knowledge on how social isolation and disorientation can influence time, sleep, and brain processes.
When she entered the cave, she was 48 and her two birthdays were passed in cave.
Before the Ukraine War broke out, Spain’s COVID mask law came to an end, and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II passed away, Flamini set off on her adventure on Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021.
She was met by a group of photographers and her support crew on Friday, who hugged her.
“Didn’t want to come out”
“When they came in to get me, I was asleep. I thought something had happened. I remarked, ‘Already? Surely not.’ I hadn’t finished my book,” she said.
Her team revealed that she did emerge for eight days, but she remained isolated in a tent while they worked to fix the router that allowed her to communicate with them through audio and video.
She was asked if she ever considered using her panic button or fleeing the cave, to which she answered, “Never. In fact I didn’t want to come out.”
How Flamini spent her time
Flamini worked out, painted, drew, and knitted wool caps while she was underground. According to her support team, she brought two GoPro cameras to record her journey and consumed 1,000 litres of water and 60 books.
She claimed that she started the challenge by trying to keep track of the time. She claimed, “I stopped counting on day 65 and lost perception of time.”
She added there were times which were “beautiful ones” as well as “hard ones,” as when insects filled the cave. “If this is your dream, and you’re realising it, why are you going to cry?”
She claimed that her attention had been on maintaining “coherence,” eating well, and savouring the silence. She eagerly anticipated the delicacies, including avocados, fresh eggs, and clean t-shirts.that her support team sent down before behaving “like gods” and taking care of her garbage.
“I didn’t talk to myself out loud, but I had internal conversations and got along very well with myself,” she quipped. “You have to remain conscious of your feelings. If you’re afraid, that’s something natural but never let panic in or you get paralysed,” she added.
She said that under no circumstances, not even in the event of a family death, should her team get in touch with her. “If it’s no communication it’s no communication regardless of the circumstances. The people who know me knew and respected that.”
Before deciding on further mountaineering and caving initiatives, she stated she would allow doctors to examine her body and mind.
33 Chilean and Bolivian miners who endured 69 days and 688 metres (2,257 feet) below in 2010 were given the title of “longest time survived trapped underground” by the Guinness Book of Records website.
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