TOUCHING THE VOID: INTERMEDIATE LEVEL PDF, EPUB, EBOOK

Anne Collins | 79 pages | 15 Jan 2008 | Macmillan Education | 9780230034457 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom Touching the Void – English Central

Belongs to Publisher Series I Licheni 1. You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data. Touching the Void. Touching the void. Joe Simpson. Simon Yates. Mackey, Brendan as Joe Simpson. Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru in the Peruvian Andes. Andes Mountains. Boardman Tasker Prize for mountain literature NCR Book Award Premio ITAS World Book Night selection All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. To Simon Yates for a debt I can never repay. And to those friends who have gone to the mountains and have not returned. I was lying in my sleeping bag, staring at the light filtering through the red and green fabric of the dome tent. Darkness slipped over the lights and slowly all sounds muffled down to silence. English with Spanish subtitles. References to this work on external resources. Wikipedia in English None. Touching the Void is the heart-stopping account of Joe Simpson's terrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. No library descriptions found. Book description. Haiku summary. Add to Your books. Add to wishlist. Quick Links Amazon. Amazon Kindle 0 editions. Audible 0 editions. CD Audiobook 0 editions. Project Gutenberg 0 editions. Google Books — Loading Local Book Search. In the summer of , Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, decide to conquer an unclimbed route in the Peruvian Andes. The two young and headstrong men choose to climb the daunting West Face of the 20, foot Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash mountain range. If they are successful, their feat would be considered a major achievement in the mountaineering community. The attempt will test the physical endurance, bravery, and the will to live of two friends. On the ascent, the two climbers take turns serving as the lead and the belay point while roped together on a foot rope. The journey begins with significant obstacles in the first few days. Joe and Simon overcome snowstorms and dangerous terrain to reach the summit. They are about four miles above sea level at the summit. Their climb is an incredible achievement. Joe and Simon are not able to celebrate their accomplishment for long. The ascent has taken them longer than they had planned due to bad weather. After running out of fuel for their stove, they are no longer able to melt snow and ice to drink. They need to make a quick descent 3, feet to the glacier below before they run out of daylight and more bad weather hits. As they make their descent down the dangerous, near-vertical North Ridge, Joe has an accident. He slips down an ice cliff and breaks his right leg and ankle. He worries that Joe will not make it off the mountain alive. Simon must now attempt to rescue Joe. Simon creates one foot rope by tying two foot lengths together. The knot in the ropes does not fit through the belay plate, a piece of climbing safety equipment used to control the rope and act as a friction brake. Joe has to stand on his left leg to create enough slack in the rope to keep rethreading the rope through the device. Touching the Void is the heart- stopping account of Joe Simpson's terrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. He and his climbing partner, Simon, reached the summit of the remote Siula Grande in June A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frost-bitten, with news that that Joe was dead. What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psych Touching the Void is the heart-stopping account of Joe Simpson's terrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship. Get A Copy. Paperback , pages. Published February 3rd by Harper Perennial first published More Details Original Title. Other Editions 3. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Touching the Void , please sign up. Would you recommend this to kids of age ? Would they understand it? Brian Fagan Yes. It challenges your imagination to "see" what they are doing in 3 dimensions. What is it about? See 2 questions about Touching the Void…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Feb 08, Graham rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Everyone, even non- climbers. One of my absolute favorite books, it transcends the genre. Some readers might be put off by talk of abseils, carabineers and crampons, but this is more than a book about mountaineering, this is a book about being human. It speaks of mortally, determination, suffering, hope, and friendship. Joe Simpson conveys what climbing is to reader whom has never be off asphalt, what suffering is to the reader whom has never been off a cushion, and, what friendship is to the lonely. This book will take you t One of my absolute favorite books, it transcends the genre. This book will take you to Andes and back, to the glacier and back, and to hell and back; afterwards you'll be glad you went. View all 5 comments. Joe Simpson had a remarkable experience - totally of his whole making, but nevertheless the way he survived was pretty amazing. Sadly, reading about it is a far less remarkable experience. To enjoy the book, you may need to really know what a 'col' is, what a 'moraine' is and the dangers and qualities of three types of snow and countless types of ice. Essentially, it's one hundred pages of very, very detailed descriptions of climbing up a mountain - who belayed when is covered in full detail, as Joe Simpson had a remarkable experience - totally of his whole making, but nevertheless the way he survived was pretty amazing. Essentially, it's one hundred pages of very, very detailed descriptions of climbing up a mountain - who belayed when is covered in full detail, as is when they stopped to make a brew. Then on the way down, there's a bit of a cock up and one fella breaks his leg. You then get fifty pages of one chap lowering another down a couple of cliffs - in very full detail. Finally you get another hundred pages of the one fella crawling back with a broken leg - every fall, every boulder, every bout of incontinence is painted in absolute detail. After that, there's a postscript, an epilogue and every other excuse possible to drag the book out. Don't get me wrong, Joe Simpson completed a fantastic journey and survived against all of the odds. However, there were times when I was ploughing through this book when I would have much preferred to be dragging a broken leg across the 'scree' at the bottom of a mountain and pissing my pants. View all 16 comments. I never really understood what there was to debate in the "big debate" surrounding Touching the Void. Joe Simpson and Simon Yates made the first ascent on the west face of Siula Grande in but ran into some serious trouble coming back down. A storm kicked up, and Simpson fell on the ice, driving his tibia through his knee. His leg was a serious mess, and the pair tried to descend as fast as they could with the bad weather getting worse more on that later. They made their descent with Yates h I never really understood what there was to debate in the "big debate" surrounding Touching the Void. They made their descent with Yates helping Simpson the best he could until Simpson slipped over a cliff and found himself dangling in mid-air over a crevasse. Yates held onto Simpson from a crumbling belay seat he'd dug out of the snow and ice, feeling all of Simpson's weight dangling prone at the end of the rope. With his seat about to disintegrate, no visual contact with Simpson or the cliff, the weather getting worse, and the likelihood of both of them going over the cliff increasing with every second that he tried to hold on, Yates made the only decision he could -- he cut the rope. Enter the debate. Some say Yates should have held on to Simpson no matter what happened, even if it meant his own death, and some say as I do that he'd already done everything he could and cutting the rope was his only remaining option. I seriously don't understand why Yates' act is up for debate, though. Not only did his decision turn out to be the right one, a decision that saved both their lives, but how many of those who say Yates should have hung on, and question his ethics for not doing so, would have actually kept their knives in their pockets? Not many, I'd wager. This debate clouds the real issue in Touching the Void , however, which is that Simpson and Yates had no business being up on the mountain that day at all. Local guides had warned them about the weather atop Siula Grande, and their own senses told them, before they even started the ascent, that they were racing against a possible mountaintop blizzard. Their hubris pushed them on, though, and they put themselves in a situation that never should have been. Had they waited for the storm to pass, the next three days of climbing would have been clear and easy, but they took an unnecessary risk, a foolish risk, and nearly paid the ultimate price. My wife is a mountain guide who has walked in the shadow of Siula Grande many times, leading treks through the Peruvian Andes, and an old friend of mine went to Canada's Yamnuska Mountaineering school to become a guide I am a dilettante when it comes to paddling and mountaineering, and I've done nothing like Erika and Curtis have, but I do love the extreme sports and have a healthy respect for the conventions that go along with them , and their response to Touching the Void is that the pair of them -- Yates and Simpson -- should have died for their stupidity. Erika, Curtis and many of their fellows were or remain angry at Yates and Simpson for taking such a silly risk. Every ascent is dangerous enough without taking on dangers that are within one's ability to avoid. Their sport has enough difficulty being accepted without adding to the stigma of danger, and taking stupid risks gives mountaineering a bad name. The general perception is that mountaineering is a sport whose athletes pursue danger for the sake of danger. Yates' and Simpson's insane ascent up Siula Grande and their antics trying to recover from their error only perpetuate that perception. The book itself is actually quite compelling, despite my frustration with their decision to make the ascent. Moreover, Simpson's loyalty to Yates, even though Yates did cut him loose one dark and stormy night, is pretty impressive. I've heard many people who love this book say that it is a triumph of the human spirit; instead, I'd call it a triumph over human stupidity. Regardless, Touching the Void is a hell of an interesting read, and I can guarantee you won't get bogged down in any dull moments. There simply aren't any. View all 4 comments. Jul 20, Pete Marchetto rated it really liked it. Long, long ago, I used to play pool in the Broadfield pub in Sheffield. I used to play another bloke regularly, nice guy - if a bit irascible at times - and, one day, he asked me what I did. It's not doing too badly. The next time I went to the Broadfield I found myself, once again, playing pool with the bloke. Conversation had come easily with him previously. Not now. Later, he told me I'd got an unnamed-check in his autobiography. A single line. He knew how lucky he was when he met me, apparently, given he'd cracked it as a writer and I'd hacked away at it and got nowhere. I got my revenge. He came in the Broadfield one day plastered up all over the shop. He'd fallen off another mountain. This tale of a bloke with a penchant for finding large geological constructions to fall off is intense in the extreme. You don't get a feel for the balls of this bloke from reading it any more than you do from meeting him - at least not directly - but balls he has. Much of the tale consists of him crawling back from the place he fell to his base camp with the hell battered out of him and, in it all, he is all too human; a wreck of a man just trying to survive in his confusion, and in his dogged determination. It's an intensely personal book in that respect. Joe holds nothing back, strips himself naked in his predicament and shows us the man behind the challenge. There's no heroism here, no 'Didn't I do great', just that sense of someone pulling himself on little by little rather than just give up everything and die. I heard a story some time later about Joe going into a television interview and tripping over the steps. A useless mountain climber, clearly. But one hell of a writer, the bastard. View 2 comments. Joe Simpson and Simon Yates were young, fearless and a little too careless when they attempted to climb a 21, peak in the Andes. They were tired of their climbs in the Alps with all the traffic and thought a secluded climb in a beautiful setting would be a welcome change. They were enjoying their seclusion on the mountain until disaster struck. Joe Simpson suffers a serious fall and breaks his leg on the top of the mountain. He is completely helpless and wholly dependent on Simon to save his l Joe Simpson and Simon Yates were young, fearless and a little too careless when they attempted to climb a 21, peak in the Andes. He is completely helpless and wholly dependent on Simon to save his life. The cocky, confident Joe suddenly has to face the terrorizing prospect of death and he's not ready to leave this earth just yet. Simon Yates is a true friend as he attempts to lower Joe down the mountain. Due to their carelessness they were out of food, water and were now in danger of frostbite without warm drinks. It was imperative that they climb down the mountain in the dark with flashlights before they succumbed to dehydration and cold. Joe suffers from agonizing pain as Simon lowers him down the mountain and has plenty of time to think over all their mistakes with regret. Surely their luck can't get any worse? Simons lowers Joe off a cliff and into a crevasse unknowingly in the dark. Joe is too far down the mountain to explain to Simon his precarious position as he hangs by a rope over the crevasse. Simon doesn't have too many options left during a bitter snow storm as he is slowly being dragged down the mountain to his death. In desperation he has to cut the rope as Joe plunges to his death into the crevasse. Miraculously, Joe absorbs the shock of falling feet by landing in snow and lies helpless in the dark contemplating his end. With the arrival of the morning sunshine he is able to assess his situation and form a plan. There is no way he can climb out of the crevasse and no chance of rescue from Simon. In desperation he begins to carefully lowers himself deeper into the crevasse as his only chance to survive since he can not face the prospect of a long, slow death. What happens next is one of the most thrilling true-survivor accounts I've ever read marveling at Joe's will to live. How he is able to survive days without food or water as he slowly crawls his way back to the camp borders on miraculous. Afterwards Simon Yates was to suffer much censure for cutting the rope in order to save his own life but I can't honestly blame him for his actions. Since I wasn't familiar with mountain climbing and therefore a lot of the terms used in this book, things did bog down a bit as Joe describes all aspect of their climb in great detail. Otherwise this book is an enjoyable and inspiring account of survival that I highly recommend. Jul 15, Chris rated it it was amazing Shelves: nonfiction. I remember seeing this documentary years ago, but had never read the book. Usually, when set in very cold climes, I also feel that also, but weirdly this time I did not. They made the summit but on the descent a horrible accident occurs in which Joe sustains a badly broken leg. He believes Joe died with that action and exhaustedly continues his descent wracked with guilt. View all 3 comments. Dec 11, ValerieLyn rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: everyone! View 1 comment. This is the quintessential survival story, and it is true! I am no mountaineer, but even I could spot some of their errors. The book focuses on moral issues too. Simon takes Joe for dead and returns to base camp, where Richard has rem Exciting? Simon takes Joe for dead and returns to base camp, where Richard has remained to watch over their possessions. Simon didn't look down that crevasse to check and see if Joe really was dead. Was it right to cut that rope? Do you sacrifice one person's life to save another, or must both die? I can understand cutting that rope What I find inexcusable is that when Simon returned to camp he did not immediately get help and search parties in to look for Joe. THAT is beyond my comprehension. There are crevasses and ice bridges and morasses and fissures and glacial expanses, sparkling light and snow storms and it is cold and wet, freezing. I could NOT exactly picture what it was like in the crevasse as the author described it. So maybe the movie is better than the book? The author took part in the filming later in His hallucinations became my hallucinations. Simon corroborated with Joe in the writing of this book. Simon's voice in the audiobook is narrated by Andrew Wincott. It was too slick, too quiet. No, he didn't even sound like a mountaineer. Joe's narration by Daniel Weyman was spot-on. My gut reaction to the audiobook was that I liked it. I certainly was not going to stop in the middle, although I had to take breathers. I am a coward and couldn't sit still, it gripped me so! I liked that not many lines were spent on the medical treatments required after this escapade. I liked that there is a short epilogue covering Joe's philosophical approach to his experiences. Yes, he continued to climb mountains. It is so terrible I cannot, cannot continue listening. Does that make it good? The two guys are view spoiler [crazy and stupid and not admirable hide spoiler ] and this is just too much. I also dislike movies where I want to but cannot leave at bad sections. How does everybody read this stuff and just keep their mouths shut? Why do I get so upset? View all 15 comments. Shelves: bio-memoir , non-fiction , reads , adventure , peru. This book operates on two speeds: fast and faster. If I hadn't been reading several other books at the same time, it would have been a one or two day read with its scanty pages. Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, are alone on the mountain when disaster strikes and Joe slips, falls and fractures his leg. Plenty of excitement follows, but I will leave mention of any details for readers This book operates on two speeds: fast and faster. Plenty of excitement follows, but I will leave mention of any details for readers to discover for themselves. The quality of Simpson's writing impressed me considering he doesn't appear to have any formal training. Its not that it blew me away, but he stays away from the annoying pitfalls that many memoir writers fall into by sticking closely to his story. The depth of honesty on both men's part was particularly refreshing even though there were times I wanted to shake Simon for his lack of considerateness towards Joe's injury. I'd recommend this book to any adventure-loving, adrenaline junkie. View all 21 comments. May 20, Anima rated it it was amazing. Bottomless, I thought idly. I wonder how deep I will go? To the bottom I hope not! The stars went out, and I fell. Like something come alive, the rope lashed violently against my face and I fell silently, endlessly into nothingness, as if dreaming of falling. I fell fast, faster than I thought, and my stomach protested at the swooping speed of it. I swept down, and from far above I saw myself falling and felt nothing. Touching the Void með CD - Vöruleit Já.is

Some readers might be put off by talk of abseils, carabineers and crampons, but this is more than a book about mountaineering, this is a book about being human. It speaks of mortally, determination, suffering, hope, and friendship. Joe Simpson conveys what climbing is to reader whom has never be off asphalt, what suffering is to the reader whom has never been off a cushion, and, what friendship is to the lonely. This book will take you t One of my absolute favorite books, it transcends the genre. This book will take you to Andes and back, to the glacier and back, and to hell and back; afterwards you'll be glad you went. View all 5 comments. Joe Simpson had a remarkable experience - totally of his whole making, but nevertheless the way he survived was pretty amazing. Sadly, reading about it is a far less remarkable experience. To enjoy the book, you may need to really know what a 'col' is, what a 'moraine' is and the dangers and qualities of three types of snow and countless types of ice. Essentially, it's one hundred pages of very, very detailed descriptions of climbing up a mountain - who belayed when is covered in full detail, as Joe Simpson had a remarkable experience - totally of his whole making, but nevertheless the way he survived was pretty amazing. Essentially, it's one hundred pages of very, very detailed descriptions of climbing up a mountain - who belayed when is covered in full detail, as is when they stopped to make a brew. Then on the way down, there's a bit of a cock up and one fella breaks his leg. You then get fifty pages of one chap lowering another down a couple of cliffs - in very full detail. Finally you get another hundred pages of the one fella crawling back with a broken leg - every fall, every boulder, every bout of incontinence is painted in absolute detail. After that, there's a postscript, an epilogue and every other excuse possible to drag the book out. Don't get me wrong, Joe Simpson completed a fantastic journey and survived against all of the odds. However, there were times when I was ploughing through this book when I would have much preferred to be dragging a broken leg across the 'scree' at the bottom of a mountain and pissing my pants. View all 16 comments. I never really understood what there was to debate in the "big debate" surrounding Touching the Void. Joe Simpson and Simon Yates made the first ascent on the west face of Siula Grande in but ran into some serious trouble coming back down. A storm kicked up, and Simpson fell on the ice, driving his tibia through his knee. His leg was a serious mess, and the pair tried to descend as fast as they could with the bad weather getting worse more on that later. They made their descent with Yates h I never really understood what there was to debate in the "big debate" surrounding Touching the Void. They made their descent with Yates helping Simpson the best he could until Simpson slipped over a cliff and found himself dangling in mid-air over a crevasse. Yates held onto Simpson from a crumbling belay seat he'd dug out of the snow and ice, feeling all of Simpson's weight dangling prone at the end of the rope. With his seat about to disintegrate, no visual contact with Simpson or the cliff, the weather getting worse, and the likelihood of both of them going over the cliff increasing with every second that he tried to hold on, Yates made the only decision he could -- he cut the rope. Enter the debate. Some say Yates should have held on to Simpson no matter what happened, even if it meant his own death, and some say as I do that he'd already done everything he could and cutting the rope was his only remaining option. I seriously don't understand why Yates' act is up for debate, though. Not only did his decision turn out to be the right one, a decision that saved both their lives, but how many of those who say Yates should have hung on, and question his ethics for not doing so, would have actually kept their knives in their pockets? Not many, I'd wager. This debate clouds the real issue in Touching the Void , however, which is that Simpson and Yates had no business being up on the mountain that day at all. Local guides had warned them about the weather atop Siula Grande, and their own senses told them, before they even started the ascent, that they were racing against a possible mountaintop blizzard. Their hubris pushed them on, though, and they put themselves in a situation that never should have been. Had they waited for the storm to pass, the next three days of climbing would have been clear and easy, but they took an unnecessary risk, a foolish risk, and nearly paid the ultimate price. My wife is a mountain guide who has walked in the shadow of Siula Grande many times, leading treks through the Peruvian Andes, and an old friend of mine went to Canada's Yamnuska Mountaineering school to become a guide I am a dilettante when it comes to paddling and mountaineering, and I've done nothing like Erika and Curtis have, but I do love the extreme sports and have a healthy respect for the conventions that go along with them , and their response to Touching the Void is that the pair of them -- Yates and Simpson -- should have died for their stupidity. Erika, Curtis and many of their fellows were or remain angry at Yates and Simpson for taking such a silly risk. Every ascent is dangerous enough without taking on dangers that are within one's ability to avoid. Their sport has enough difficulty being accepted without adding to the stigma of danger, and taking stupid risks gives mountaineering a bad name. The general perception is that mountaineering is a sport whose athletes pursue danger for the sake of danger. Yates' and Simpson's insane ascent up Siula Grande and their antics trying to recover from their error only perpetuate that perception. The book itself is actually quite compelling, despite my frustration with their decision to make the ascent. Moreover, Simpson's loyalty to Yates, even though Yates did cut him loose one dark and stormy night, is pretty impressive. I've heard many people who love this book say that it is a triumph of the human spirit; instead, I'd call it a triumph over human stupidity. Regardless, Touching the Void is a hell of an interesting read, and I can guarantee you won't get bogged down in any dull moments. There simply aren't any. View all 4 comments. Jul 20, Pete Marchetto rated it really liked it. Long, long ago, I used to play pool in the Broadfield pub in Sheffield. I used to play another bloke regularly, nice guy - if a bit irascible at times - and, one day, he asked me what I did. It's not doing too badly. The next time I went to the Broadfield I found myself, once again, playing pool with the bloke. Conversation had come easily with him previously. Not now. Later, he told me I'd got an unnamed-check in his autobiography. A single line. He knew how lucky he was when he met me, apparently, given he'd cracked it as a writer and I'd hacked away at it and got nowhere. I got my revenge. He came in the Broadfield one day plastered up all over the shop. He'd fallen off another mountain. This tale of a bloke with a penchant for finding large geological constructions to fall off is intense in the extreme. You don't get a feel for the balls of this bloke from reading it any more than you do from meeting him - at least not directly - but balls he has. Much of the tale consists of him crawling back from the place he fell to his base camp with the hell battered out of him and, in it all, he is all too human; a wreck of a man just trying to survive in his confusion, and in his dogged determination. It's an intensely personal book in that respect. Joe holds nothing back, strips himself naked in his predicament and shows us the man behind the challenge. There's no heroism here, no 'Didn't I do great', just that sense of someone pulling himself on little by little rather than just give up everything and die. I heard a story some time later about Joe going into a television interview and tripping over the steps. A useless mountain climber, clearly. But one hell of a writer, the bastard. View 2 comments. Joe Simpson and Simon Yates were young, fearless and a little too careless when they attempted to climb a 21, peak in the Andes. They were tired of their climbs in the Alps with all the traffic and thought a secluded climb in a beautiful setting would be a welcome change. They were enjoying their seclusion on the mountain until disaster struck. Joe Simpson suffers a serious fall and breaks his leg on the top of the mountain. He is completely helpless and wholly dependent on Simon to save his l Joe Simpson and Simon Yates were young, fearless and a little too careless when they attempted to climb a 21, peak in the Andes. He is completely helpless and wholly dependent on Simon to save his life. The cocky, confident Joe suddenly has to face the terrorizing prospect of death and he's not ready to leave this earth just yet. Simon Yates is a true friend as he attempts to lower Joe down the mountain. Due to their carelessness they were out of food, water and were now in danger of frostbite without warm drinks. It was imperative that they climb down the mountain in the dark with flashlights before they succumbed to dehydration and cold. Joe suffers from agonizing pain as Simon lowers him down the mountain and has plenty of time to think over all their mistakes with regret. Surely their luck can't get any worse? Simons lowers Joe off a cliff and into a crevasse unknowingly in the dark. Joe is too far down the mountain to explain to Simon his precarious position as he hangs by a rope over the crevasse. Simon doesn't have too many options left during a bitter snow storm as he is slowly being dragged down the mountain to his death. In desperation he has to cut the rope as Joe plunges to his death into the crevasse. Miraculously, Joe absorbs the shock of falling feet by landing in snow and lies helpless in the dark contemplating his end. With the arrival of the morning sunshine he is able to assess his situation and form a plan. There is no way he can climb out of the crevasse and no chance of rescue from Simon. In desperation he begins to carefully lowers himself deeper into the crevasse as his only chance to survive since he can not face the prospect of a long, slow death. What happens next is one of the most thrilling true-survivor accounts I've ever read marveling at Joe's will to live. How he is able to survive days without food or water as he slowly crawls his way back to the camp borders on miraculous. Afterwards Simon Yates was to suffer much censure for cutting the rope in order to save his own life but I can't honestly blame him for his actions. Since I wasn't familiar with mountain climbing and therefore a lot of the terms used in this book, things did bog down a bit as Joe describes all aspect of their climb in great detail. Otherwise this book is an enjoyable and inspiring account of survival that I highly recommend. Jul 15, Chris rated it it was amazing Shelves: nonfiction. I remember seeing this documentary years ago, but had never read the book. Usually, when set in very cold climes, I also feel that also, but weirdly this time I did not. They made the summit but on the descent a horrible accident occurs in which Joe sustains a badly broken leg. He believes Joe died with that action and exhaustedly continues his descent wracked with guilt. View all 3 comments. Dec 11, ValerieLyn rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: everyone! View 1 comment. This is the quintessential survival story, and it is true! I am no mountaineer, but even I could spot some of their errors. The book focuses on moral issues too. Simon takes Joe for dead and returns to base camp, where Richard has rem Exciting? Simon takes Joe for dead and returns to base camp, where Richard has remained to watch over their possessions. Simon didn't look down that crevasse to check and see if Joe really was dead. Was it right to cut that rope? Do you sacrifice one person's life to save another, or must both die? I can understand cutting that rope What I find inexcusable is that when Simon returned to camp he did not immediately get help and search parties in to look for Joe. THAT is beyond my comprehension. There are crevasses and ice bridges and morasses and fissures and glacial expanses, sparkling light and snow storms and it is cold and wet, freezing. I could NOT exactly picture what it was like in the crevasse as the author described it. So maybe the movie is better than the book? The author took part in the filming later in His hallucinations became my hallucinations. Simon corroborated with Joe in the writing of this book. Simon's voice in the audiobook is narrated by Andrew Wincott. It was too slick, too quiet. No, he didn't even sound like a mountaineer. Joe's narration by Daniel Weyman was spot-on. My gut reaction to the audiobook was that I liked it. I certainly was not going to stop in the middle, although I had to take breathers. I am a coward and couldn't sit still, it gripped me so! I liked that not many lines were spent on the medical treatments required after this escapade. I liked that there is a short epilogue covering Joe's philosophical approach to his experiences. Yes, he continued to climb mountains. It is so terrible I cannot, cannot continue listening. Does that make it good? The two guys are view spoiler [crazy and stupid and not admirable hide spoiler ] and this is just too much. I also dislike movies where I want to but cannot leave at bad sections. How does everybody read this stuff and just keep their mouths shut? Why do I get so upset? View all 15 comments. Shelves: bio-memoir , non-fiction , reads , adventure , peru. This book operates on two speeds: fast and faster. If I hadn't been reading several other books at the same time, it would have been a one or two day read with its scanty pages. Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, are alone on the mountain when disaster strikes and Joe slips, falls and fractures his leg. Plenty of excitement follows, but I will leave mention of any details for readers This book operates on two speeds: fast and faster. Plenty of excitement follows, but I will leave mention of any details for readers to discover for themselves. The quality of Simpson's writing impressed me considering he doesn't appear to have any formal training. Its not that it blew me away, but he stays away from the annoying pitfalls that many memoir writers fall into by sticking closely to his story. The depth of honesty on both men's part was particularly refreshing even though there were times I wanted to shake Simon for his lack of considerateness towards Joe's injury. I'd recommend this book to any adventure-loving, adrenaline junkie. View all 21 comments. May 20, Anima rated it it was amazing. Bottomless, I thought idly. I wonder how deep I will go? To the bottom I hope not! The stars went out, and I fell. Like something come alive, the rope lashed violently against my face and I fell silently, endlessly into nothingness, as if dreaming of falling. I fell fast, faster than I thought, and my stomach protested at the swooping speed of it. I swept down, and from far above I saw myself falling and felt nothing. No thoughts, and all fears gone away. So this is it! Starlight and the moon glimmering through my entry hole in the roof above gave enough light for me to see the abysses on either side I could see grey-shadowed ice walls and the stark blackness of the drops, too deep for the light to penetrate I saw the rope flick down, and my hopes sank. I drew the slack rope to me, and stared at the frayed end. White and pink nylon filaments sprayed out from the end. I suppose I had known all long Why bother trying? I turned off the torch and sobbed quietly in the dark, feeling overwhelmed. I cried in bursts, and between them listen to the childlike sounds fade beneath me, then cried again All that sobbing and shouting had been too much. Acceptance seemed better I though carefully of the end. It seemed pretty sordid. Looking at the ice bridge, I felt disturbed at the memory of my time spent on. It was hard to believe how desperate I had been in the night and while abseiling now that I was reaching for the sun. That was the hardest thing I had ever done, and thinking about it I felt a surge of confidence build in me. There was still a lot to fight for The voice said I would lose my way, said I would never get through the crevasses without the prints, and told me to hurry on, but what I was really frightened of was losing a sign of life in the empty bowl of mountains surrounding me Jun 08, Chris Dietzel rated it liked it. A straight forward story of a couple mistakes on a mountain leading to one climber fighting to survive for a couple days as he makes his way back to camp. I liked it but found myself wishing for more in terms of revelations that go on in that type of situation. In terms of nonfiction survival stories, I much prefe A straight forward story of a couple mistakes on a mountain leading to one climber fighting to survive for a couple days as he makes his way back to camp. Jan 09, Tressa rated it it was amazing Shelves: adventure , biography , mountaineering , autobiography. We climbed 'cause it's fun. And mainly it was fun. That's all we ever did. And we were fairly anarchic and fairly irresponsible, and we didn't give a damn about anyone else or anything else, and we just wanted to climb the world. Touching The Void Joe Simpson. Transform this Plot Summary into a Study Guide. Joe proved his doctors wrong. He continued mountain climbing after two years of physical rehabilitation. From to , he attempted to climb the North Face of Eiger in Switzerland six times but had to abort due to bad weather conditions. Today Simpson is an author and motivational speaker. In the summer of , Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, decide to conquer an unclimbed route in the Peruvian Andes. The two young and headstrong men choose to climb the daunting West Face of the 20, foot Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash mountain range. If they are successful, their feat would be considered a major achievement in the mountaineering community. The attempt will test the physical endurance, bravery, and the will to live of two friends. On the ascent, the two climbers take turns serving as the lead and the belay point while roped together on a foot rope. The journey begins with significant obstacles in the first few days. Joe and Simon overcome snowstorms and dangerous terrain to reach the summit. They are about four miles above sea level at the summit. Their climb is an incredible achievement. Joe and Simon are not able to celebrate their accomplishment for long. The ascent has taken them longer than they had planned due to bad weather. After running out of fuel for their stove, they are no longer able to melt snow and ice to drink. They need to make a quick descent 3, feet to the glacier below before they run out of daylight and more bad weather hits. As they make their descent down the dangerous, near-vertical North Ridge, Joe has an accident. Home Groups Talk More Zeitgeist. I Agree This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and if not signed in for advertising. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms. Members Reviews Popularity Average rating Mentions 2, 59 4, 4. He and his climbing partner, Simon, reached the the summit of the remote Siula Grande in June A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frost-bitten, with news that that Joe was dead. What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship. Folio Society Non-Fiction Worth Reading Books Read in 1, Accidents, Disasters, and Tragedies Top Survival Stories BBC Radio 4 Bookclub No current Talk conversations about this book. We're back again with another installment of "Forsan reads extreme sports books," this time with another mountaineering book about a trip in the Peruvian Andes, where author Joe Simpson ends up breaking his leg high on a mountain, at the beginning of his descent with his climbing partner Simon Yates. If you like survival stories, this is a must read. JanetNoRules Sep 17, ChatterMatters Jul 17, This book is harrowing, touching, and suspenseful. CherieKephart Aug 3, Status Joe Simpson — primary author all editions calculated Darlow, David Author secondary author all editions confirmed Bonington, Chris Foreword secondary author some editions confirmed. Belongs to Publisher Series I Licheni 1. You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data. Touching the Void. Touching the void. Joe Simpson. Simon Yates. Mackey, Brendan as Joe Simpson. Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru in the Peruvian Andes. Andes Mountains. Boardman Tasker Prize for mountain literature NCR Book Award Premio ITAS World Book Night selection All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. Macmillan Readers Intermediate Level : Touching The Void (P)

What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship. Folio Society Non-Fiction Worth Reading Books Read in 1, Accidents, Disasters, and Tragedies Top Survival Stories BBC Radio 4 Bookclub No current Talk conversations about this book. We're back again with another installment of "Forsan reads extreme sports books," this time with another mountaineering book about a trip in the Peruvian Andes, where author Joe Simpson ends up breaking his leg high on a mountain, at the beginning of his descent with his climbing partner Simon Yates. If you like survival stories, this is a must read. JanetNoRules Sep 17, ChatterMatters Jul 17, This book is harrowing, touching, and suspenseful. CherieKephart Aug 3, Status Joe Simpson — primary author all editions calculated Darlow, David Author secondary author all editions confirmed Bonington, Chris Foreword secondary author some editions confirmed. Belongs to Publisher Series I Licheni 1. You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data. Touching the Void. Touching the void. Joe Simpson. Simon Yates. Mackey, Brendan as Joe Simpson. Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru in the Peruvian Andes. Andes Mountains. Boardman Tasker Prize for mountain literature NCR Book Award Premio ITAS World Book Night selection All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. To Simon Yates for a debt I can never repay. And to those friends who have gone to the mountains and have not returned. I was lying in my sleeping bag, staring at the light filtering through the red and green fabric of the dome tent. Darkness slipped over the lights and slowly all sounds muffled down to silence. English with Spanish subtitles. Schools earn Scholastic Rewards when parents or staff order from us. If you work at a school you can use Rewards to buy books and resources for your classroom or library. Find out how to use Scholastic Rewards. More books for 12 - 18 year olds. After a series of accidents, Simon was forced to cut the rope which held him and Joe together. At the time, Simon believed that he was sending his friend to his death…. Scholastic ELT Secondary Readers are a series of contemporary film and TV adaptations, original teenage fiction, classic literature and biographies. Specifically targeted at teenagers learning English, they are published at five levels following a carefully graded syllabus. Featured Magazines. Featured Readers. Featured Areas. Published by Macmillan Education. Author s : Joe Simpson. When Joe breaks his leg high on the mountain, he knows that he will probably die. But Simon is determined to help his friend and determines to lower him down the mountain on a rope. The plan seems to be going well. But then disaster strikes. touching the void | Macmillan Readers Featured Items. Featured Magazines. Featured Readers. Featured Areas. Published by Macmillan Education. Author s : Joe Simpson. When Joe breaks his leg high on the mountain, he knows that he will probably die. But Simon is determined to help his friend and determines to lower him down the mountain on a rope. The plan seems to be going well. They are about four miles above sea level at the summit. Their climb is an incredible achievement. Joe and Simon are not able to celebrate their accomplishment for long. The ascent has taken them longer than they had planned due to bad weather. After running out of fuel for their stove, they are no longer able to melt snow and ice to drink. They need to make a quick descent 3, feet to the glacier below before they run out of daylight and more bad weather hits. As they make their descent down the dangerous, near-vertical North Ridge, Joe has an accident. He slips down an ice cliff and breaks his right leg and ankle. He worries that Joe will not make it off the mountain alive. Simon must now attempt to rescue Joe. Simon creates one foot rope by tying two foot lengths together. The knot in the ropes does not fit through the belay plate, a piece of climbing safety equipment used to control the rope and act as a friction brake. Joe has to stand on his left leg to create enough slack in the rope to keep rethreading the rope through the device. Using this complicated maneuver with the ropes, Simon attempts to lower Joe down the mountain. At first, this system works. The conditions around the two men get worse by the minute due to darkness and a storm. Simon makes a mistake because he cannot see or hear Joe. Simon inadvertently lowers Joe off of an outcropping. There is nothing Simon can do but hope that Joe can climb the rope. As Joe cannot let Simon know what has happened, he tries to climb the rope. Picture this: an incredible panoramic view of a rugged mountain range and the camera slowly pans to the point where you see two tiny black specs climbing a 21, foot, shear-faced mountain wall. It's well below freezing. The wind is ripping through the air. And two climbers are hanging by their fingertips and boot toes but lashed together with a single strand of nylon rope and a few pitons hammered into the rock. After twelve hours, they crest an outcrop of rock and have just enough room to sit Picture this: an incredible panoramic view of a rugged mountain range and the camera slowly pans to the point where you see two tiny black specs climbing a 21, foot, shear-faced mountain wall. After twelve hours, they crest an outcrop of rock and have just enough room to sit, fire a single-burner propane torch, and heat a can of Ramen noodles for dinner. The terrain is nearly impossible to traverse, and laden with equipment their only option is to "jump" into thin air over a deep crevasse to a nearby ledge in order to ascend any further… There were no margins for error here, and how these two dealt with it and their emotions when the worst occurred, was beyond understanding. The next second is near fatal and one breaks his leg. They are in a dire position, and their situation seems impossible to get out of. Yet, their courage, drive, and fortitude are on an Olympian scale. The decisions they are required to make are a huge gamble and a life-threatening risk. How Joe Simpson and Simon Yates made it off that mountain in the Andes is an incredible journey worth reading. This is Simpson's firsthand account of these events, and he is as good a writer as he is a mountain climber. This is a gripping, direct, and honest account of a mountaineering extreme experience. This is a great title about survival in the most dire of circumstances. I was curling my toes through the last half of the book. The ending is climactic and this book will be unforgettable. How both men overcame the torments of those harrowing days is an epic tale of fear, suffering, and survival, and a poignant testament to unshakable courage and friendship. Mar 17, Walt rated it liked it. In younger years, when I had more energy and less sense, I probably would have rated it four stars instead of three. As to adventure, it pumps adrenalin through readers' veins as fast as the government these days pumps money through the failing finincial institutions, especially after a major catastrophe and the so-called ethical dilemma toward the middle of the book. What becomes very obvious very soon is how young, imm This is the second time I have read Joe Simpson's Touching the Void. What becomes very obvious very soon is how young, immature, and foolish these two fellows--Joe and Simon--were. My second reading through was almost painful on top of the regular painfulness because of it. Of course, high adventurers like them wouldn't normally reclimb the same mountain and probably would advise against rereading Joe's narrative again. Onward and upward seemed to be their mantra--and almost their sole mantra. Climb every mountain. Joe didn't seem grounded in society, in life, or in religion. He wasn't, it seemed, even grounded in the pursuit. Upon summiting, he took some photos, ate some chocolate, but felt the "usual anticlimax. What now? It was a vicious circle. While Joe cried in frustration, he rarely if ever cried about the loss of a parent, a companion, a child. When I think of tears, I think of deep emotions from the heart. When he cried, it seemed his came from somewhere else on the surface and not in the center. I was too tired to care. It was all pride: "They'd never know we did it. I like a little more paint on the canvass, more nuance in the story-telling. If you are so much a risk taker on a mountain, I expect more risks, more inventiveness on the page. But there you go. I don't think the two climbers displayed much inventiveness in their endeavor. I think the book carried on with that theme. Feb 23, Irene rated it liked it. This is a classic among mountain climbing memoirs. A terrible climbing accident on a particularly dangerous mountain leads to an extraordinary story of survival. The writing was stellar, creating an immediacy to each scene with such power that, despite knowing the outcome, I was on the edge of my seat throughout. In any other book, this would easily gain four stars from me. However, this book also made me so angry. Had this extraordinary effort for survival occurred as a result of natural disaster or war or of the effort to rescue another person, my reaction would have been much different. But, knowing people who are doing everything they can to survive disease or violence or poverty, I am enraged by anyone who deliberately puts their own life in peril. Mar 10, Leila rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Anyone. After ascending a 21, foot peak in the Andes, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates are on their way down when Joe falls and breaks his leg. Rather than leave his partner behind, Simon begins the arduous task of belaying Joe down the face of the mountain. Suddenly, as Simon is lowering Joe into the mists, all of Joe's weight pulls the rope taught. After several minutes, with no release of weight and his own position in serious danger, Simon makes the painful decision to cut the rope on his partner. U After ascending a 21, foot peak in the Andes, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates are on their way down when Joe falls and breaks his leg. Unbeknownst to Simon, Joe has fallen off an ice cliff and is hanging in mid-air. When Simon cuts the rope, Joe falls into an ice-crevasse a hundred feet below him. Believing Joe to be dead, Simon must descend the mountain racked with guilt that tests his physical and spiritual strength. Joe, having survived the fall, must call upon every physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual reserve within him as he struggles to get down the mountain and back to base camp before it breaks. After watching the movie and being astounded by the friendship, love, and loyalty of these climbers, I was not let down by the novel at all. Having a first person account from both climbers as each struggled with the horrific events that created an unfathomable circumstance for survival was a heartbreaking, yet brilliant glimpse into the heart of mankind and our will to overcome even the most dire of circumstance. Jun 11, Bee rated it it was amazing Shelves: recommended-to-me , favourite , audiobook , auto-biography. I read this listened actually in three days, in long intense sections, feeling the cold bitter wind blow through my car in Covid Lock Down minor traffic. My hands feeling frostbitten as I washed dishes, and just sitting staring at my floor, as the moral calculus of Simon's decisions rang through my head. I immediately watched the movie with a climbing friend of mine. We paused often to discuss the realities of what these two men had survived. I must also say the movie is very true to the book. Giving incredible insight into dealing with harrowing accidents, and the terrible decisions they necessitate. We went climbing today at a small rock face near my home, and Joe was close to my mind throughout the slow ascent of cold rock. I am deeply grateful to live in a country where snow is a rare novelty. Highly recommend. Shelves: readbooks-male-author-or-illust , z , zz-5star , biography , reviewed , non-fiction. On the one hand I felt infuriated with these 2 men for taking such huge risks, but their story is unbelievably riveting and well told and I appreciated the honesty with which it was told as well. The thing is, it seems impossible that either one, especially the author, could survive what happened to them. Everything that could go wrong did, but so did everything that could go right. Oct 25, vanessa rated it it was ok Shelves: , memoir , physically-from-the-library. Considering the circumstances here mountaineer up 19, feet breaks his leg, saves himself after his partner is forced to leave him , this book should've been captivating. I should've been entirely engrossed by this survival story. There was no emotion in this; the storytelling was flat. The mountain had more personality than the two climbers. Feb 05, Anita Pomerantz rated it really liked it. A gripping and horrifying mountaineering story, but there were a few things that didn't make it as exciting for me as Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster , which remains my favorite of the genre. The best part of the writing in this particular book is how Joe relates his inner voice as he attempts to save himself from a desperate situation. At the end of the book, he states, ". I simply could not find the words to express the utter desolation of the experience. I don't know how he didn't just give up or go mad. First, Joe describes the terrain a lot, but he is using mountaineering terms to do so, and even after looking them up, I still had trouble picturing the issue some of the time. I think it would have been nice if he used some analogies or something to help me picture the daunting terrain. Second, by virtue of the fact that the author is the protagonist, the suspense is somewhat lessened. We know he ends up at least okay because he lived to write the book. Into Thin Air was written by a journalist, so while you are reading, you aren't sure of the fate of the many climbers in the story, and that added suspense for me that this book couldn't really have in the same way. I never get bored reading about this topic for whatever reason. Oct 03, Brian Fagan rated it it was ok. Are there hobbies or sports that you enjoy reading about but never had thoughts of trying? For me one is mountain climbing. I love reading about perilous climbs, but never did anything along those lines, just two 14ers that did not require technical know-how. On both I found serious fatigue and headache above 11, feet, so anything beyond those two summits wasn't meant to be for me anyway. It was written in and tells the Are there hobbies or sports that you enjoy reading about but never had thoughts of trying? It was written in and tells the story of a climb he did three years earlier, one that very nearly cost him his life. In a docudrama was filmed about the epic adventure. I've often said to friends that the sports I find most interesting from a psychological standpoint are golf, boxing and figure skating. I need to add mountain climbing to that list. What separates climbing from the others psychologically is of course the fear of actually dying, but also the fact that a lack of oxygen can affect thought processes. In this adventure, Brit Joe Simpson and his climbing buddy Simon Yates are attempting an unclimbed route on the west face of 20, ft. Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. To say much more than that will get into plot details better left unsaid, but basically there is a life- threatening accident that causes a serious injury, and the two struggle to find a way off the mountain with their lives. I felt that the lack of backstories on the two climbers was a serious and frustrating omission - the only negative that kept me from a perfect rating. I wanted to know how they became interested in climbing, their technical level of expertise, i. That's not an unreasonable expectation. Instead we come in abruptly as they begin their attack on the mountain. As interesting as their actions are, their thoughts, whether coherent or impaired, which they recall in great detail, are much more fascinating. One of the inherent issues in high-altitude situations is how judgment, so critical to safety and success, can become impaired in one or more team members. Nearness to the summit can cloud judgment. Not wanting to be the one to recommend turning back can cloud judgment. Hypoxia or hypothermia can cloud judgment. Getting past a difficult situation can cloud judgment. Fear of descending can cloud judgment. Fear of failure can cloud judgment. Overall, focusing on the task to the exclusion of evaluating the risks can cloud judgment. When you consider all the excessively dangerous aspects of this particular climb and descent at the time it was done, it actually would have been very surprising for anyone to have done it unscathed. That is my opinion after reading the details supplied by their observations. The climbers couldn't have known of all of these factors before the climb. But I believe they could have known or suspected some of them. Again, my opinion as an armchair quarterback. If you enjoy real-life adventure stories, you will enjoy Touching the Void. I got so engrossed I didn't hear my wife talking to me! Feb 28, Nancy Baker rated it it was amazing. I don't know when I have read a book that left me so emotionally exhausted. And knowing or worrying about the fact that my resting heart rate only averages around 50, yet while reading this book I could actually FEEL my heart pumping in my throat, it left me equally physically exhausted. I'll start out by saying that I'm afraid of heights - - deathly afraid of heights. So why would I read a true story about two men attempting to climb a face of the Peruvian Andes not yet conquered? Honestly -- I don't know when I have read a book that left me so emotionally exhausted. Honestly -- only because my daughter asked me to read it. I opened the front cover and in the first paragraph I found my battle plan. Instead of thinking outside the box, I was going to have to teach myself to read inside the tent. The first memorable lines written by Joe the main narrator said, "There is a peculiar anonymity about being in tents. Once the zipper is closed and the outside world barred from sight, all sense of location disappears. I'm not going to tell you the story. Let's just say that two men go up a mountain and when you are fighting a natural geographic formation placed there by God, the odds aren't always in your favor. A battle ensues, a deadly battle, and then the battle of wits and courage begins. I started the book with a deep-seated feeling that all mountain climbers must have a death wish. Do they just climb until they fail? Is the purpose to find the mountain that can beat you? There came a point in the book where I began to detect a sense of complacency in their actions and I knew what was coming. Aren't we all guilty of that? We perform an action so familiar that we do it without thinking and then something goes awry and we're left wondering how it happened. Halfway through the book, I began developing an enormous sense of admiration for these men, especially Joe. For a brief moment I could focus on the men and not their location. I was consumed by their resolve and commitment to continue to move forward. Looking back or regretting the situation in which they found themselves was never an option; each just moved into "Plan B", and when that failed, they reverted to "Plan C" and so forth. Joe wrote, "I had one choice: I could slowly descend until I could find a way out, or die in the process. I would meet death rather than wait for it to come to me. There was no going back now, yet inside I was screaming to stop. Joe said that surviving that first disastrous night was the hardest thing he had ever done, and thinking about it he felt a surge of confidence build inside him. There was still a lot to fight for. We should all be so open minded to see that winning even the smallest victory in life gives us confidence to fight our next battle. For Joe and Simon the "void" was the black abyss high on a mountaintop, the uncertainty of what you can't see or feel and no resources other than yourself with which to fight the unknown. In reality we all have our "void" to fight, perhaps several, and at different stages in our life. My void is called Leukemia. I've been told it's name, I've seen the proof, but like Joe and Simon the disaster or diagnosis is behind me. I can't let it change my path in life or the goals I have sat for myself. My direction has to be forward and upward and yet it's inevitable that some days will be downhill. But I've discovered that even a descent can be the most difficult climb of a lifetime. Fortitude, courage and strength doesn't come in big strides, but in baby steps -- some hardly measurable -- but when tallied together, they equal progress. I started by thinking all mountain climbers had a death with - trying to find that one mountain that would beat them. I ended by thinking that all mountain climbers are on a quest to prove that no mountain can break their spirit. I still never want to be a mountain climber and it will be awhile before I read a book that even mentions snow, but I closed the book a stronger and wiser person. I had a touch more courage than the days before. For all readers, friends and family -- I hope you face your void, whatever it may be, with courage and a positive outlook and with the knowledge that there is ALWAYS something to fight for. May 12, Marie rated it really liked it Shelves: memoirs , nonfiction , travel. My husband went to prep school with Joe Simpson in England although Simpson's a few years older than him , so I've wanted to read this book for some time. Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, climbed a mountain peak in the Andes--the 21,foot Siula Grande. While ascending, Joe broke his leg However, Simon risked his own life to lower Joe 3, feet down the mountain while Joe kept digging "belays" into the mountain, allowing Simon to stretch out the rope once more. When the rope did not go slack allowing him to affix a new hitch , Simon had no idea what was going on. He had no choice but to cut the rope, knowing that by doing so Joe would die. If he hadn't cut the rope, they both would have died on the mountain. When the rope was cut, Joe fell into a very deep crevasse. The amazing piece is that Joe did not die--in fact, he survived. Over the ensuing three days, somehow he was able to crawl out of the crevasse and all the way down the mountain, and then 6 miles to base camp, just before Simon left to return to civilization. Joe writes about the deep loneliness, exhaustion, and terror that beset him on the mountain. He did not give up when most people would have. Not only did he survive with a horribly broken and painful leg, but he also did not have food and water for several days. The only thing that kept him going was a voice in his head--prompting him to keep moving and surviving. Meanwhile, Simon was being tormented with guilt, even at the same time as he realized he had no choice in the matter. Joe writes from Simon's perspective as well in italics , giving us a more complete picture of what was happening in both men's minds. https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/bfddd14d-9058-48b3-977c-fa097c656cfa/publius-quinctilius-varus-leben-und-nachleben-527.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9586119/UploadedFiles/36862EFC-77D9-B91C-F104-6465F27E4AB3.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9587517/UploadedFiles/68A6F854-C4AE-4A37-18F8-B5E9DCDED141.pdf https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/6b2ea15e-d8aa-4926-ac99-fce14a93c5c3/financial-modeling-eine-empirische-ueberprufung-des-capm- am-oesterreichischen-aktienmarkt-246.pdf