Explorers of the Infinite

In the life-or-death world of extreme adventure sports, there is one thing that athletes often keep quiet about: the“forbidden” territory of paranormal experiences. Rangingfrom fleeting moments of transcendence to full-blown encounterswith ghosts and everything in between—visions, neardeathexperiences, psychic communication—many extremeathletes have experienced these moments of connection withthe beyond, but have been reluctant to talk about them.In Explorers of the Infinite, award-winning outdoors journalistand lifelong adventure sports devotee Maria Coffey probesthe mystical and paranormal experiences of mountaineers, snowboarders, surfers, and more. She reviews cutting-edgescience, and consults the history of philosophy and spiritualityto answer the question: Could the state of intense “aliveness”that is the allure of extreme sports for so many actually be aroute to a connection with the beyond?Coffey investigates the scientific explanations for mysticalphenomena, ranging from simple explanations to theories fromconsciousness studies and quantum physics, and leaves us wonderingwhere science ends and spirituality begins.An energetic, you-are-there look at the spiritual lives ofextreme athletes, Explorers of the Infinite asks why extreme athletestake the risks that allow them to push the limits of consciousness, what they encounter there, and what we can learnfrom them.