Touching the Void: Intermediate Level Free

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Touching the Void: Intermediate Level Free FREE TOUCHING THE VOID: INTERMEDIATE LEVEL PDF Anne Collins | 79 pages | 15 Jan 2008 | Macmillan Education | 9780230034457 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom Touching the Void by Joe Simpson | LibraryThing A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. 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 tohe 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 ofJoe 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 Touching the Void: Intermediate Level 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 Touching the Void: Intermediate Level. After running out of fuel for Touching the Void: Intermediate Level stove, they are no longer able to melt snow and ice to drink. They need to make a quick descent 3, feet to Touching the Void: Intermediate Level 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 Touching the Void: Intermediate Level happened, he tries to climb the rope. He tries to create a Prusik knot, which is a friction hitch that attaches two ropes together so they can be adjusted easily. His knot is not tied properly. This causes him to drop one of the cords. Joe is suspended into space Touching the Void: Intermediate Level more than an hour, thinking he is going to die. Simon is now fearful that they will both die as they are tied to the same rope. Simon makes an extremely difficult decision. To Touching the Void: Intermediate Level his life, he must cut the rope. His belay seat was not going to last much longer. Joe begins falling. He thinks that Simon must have fallen. Simon, who believes that Joe is dead, spends the night in a snow cave. He is racked with guilt and grief. After the storm ends, he completes the descent to base camp the next day. He does so despite hypothermia and extreme exhaustion. When Joe awakes, he is miraculously still alive. He finds that he has landed on a small ledge. He assumes that Simon will believe that he is dead. Instead of killing Joe, the cutting of the rope may have actually saved his life. Instead of enduring further exposure to the freezing wind, he landed in a more sheltered spot. Joe discovers that the rope has been cut and that he must make it down the mountain by himself to survive. After the storm, Joe now has to work the way down the mountain. He finds an exit back onto the glacier. Joe then has to crawl, walk and struggle the five miles back to base camp. In addition to his injuries, he is also starving and dehydrated. The agonizing journey will take every last ounce of his physical and spiritual strength to survive. He manages to reach base camp hours before Simon plans to leave and return to civilization. Touching the Void was made into a docudrama survival film of the same name in Touching The Void Summary | SuperSummary Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. As the two slowly attempt to descend down to escape the brutal cold and weather, a technical miscalculation results in Simon--in a desperate attempt to save his own life, believing that Joe has already or will soon die on the mountain--having to make the difficult decision to literally cut the rope that ties the two of them together, leaving Joe on the mountain to face a in his mind certain death. Of course, as the subtitle states, Joe does not in fact die, but rather somewhat miraculously, while facing tremendous pain and severe dehydration, manages to slowly make his Touching the Void: Intermediate Level down. I've had this book on my radar since finishing Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster a couple months ago, and I feel like that's the obvious book to compare this one too. While there were things that I liked about this one, I think that Krakauer's was Touching the Void: Intermediate Level better overall. This one was at many points extremely technical in its use of mountaineering jargon and other terms, making details of what the two were facing often somewhat hard to understand, though I did like the inclusion of pictures throughout the book. Also and perhaps relatedly, the first half or so of the book was, in my opinion, quite slow to get through. However, I do think that the pace definitely picked up after the accident, and I think that Simpson did a good job of capturing his internal mental state throughout his solo descent. I saw the documentary first which I'd give 5 stars - really worth watchingthen read the book. Simpson isn't the most exciting writer, but the story itself is incredible, and the emotional honesty that he and Simon Yates both provide gives it power. Simpson's gradual mental and physical collapse as he tries to survive is riveting. But I think it is Yates' heroism and the impossible choice he had to make - and then live with - that will stick with me. That they were also incredibly reckless somehow makes it more interesting. I mean, they took so many risks, how could they not see this coming? Ah, to be young and Touching the Void: Intermediate Level and invincible again. Touching the Void: Intermediate Level you play it steady, bluff like crazy or go all in? Me, describing this book? That is it. The best way to describe this book; it is an Experience. Joe Simpson and his friend Simon Yates are mountain climbers. They set out to climb a previously untested mountain range in the Andes Mountains. It was cold. It was dangerous. It was exhilarating. In the beginning of the book, the cold, the wet, the loneliness…I was left wondering what in the world these two men could possibly see fun about doing what they were doing! It just sounds miserable! But then, just like a good author should, Simpson provided the reason for me: For the first time in my life I knew what it meant to be isolated from people and society. It was wonderfully calming and tranquil to be here. I became aware of a feeling of complete freedom-to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to, and in whatever manner. Suddenly the whole day had changed. All lethargy was swept away by an invigorating independence. We had responsibilities to no one but ourselves now, there would be no more to intrude or come to our rescue… That quote comes from near the beginning of the book, as they are on their way up that crazy mountain. Come to our rescue…. Still makes me shiver. He wrote this book! The fall takes mere moments in words. After; is why you need to read this book. The physical journey, the spiritual journey, Touching the Void: Intermediate Level pain, and fear, and hope, and despair…these are reasons why you need to read this book. Joe Simpson, and Simon Yates, lay it all bare for the world to see. It is a moving, painful, and breath-taking journey to read. I challenge you to read this book and not feel COLD. Highly recommended and shows I really should step out of my comfort zone every once in awhile! Amazing true story.
Recommended publications
  • Touching the Void Discussion Guide
    www.influencefilmclub.com Touching the Void Discussion Guide Director: Kevin Macdonald Year: 2003 Time: 106 min You might know this director from: Black Sea (2014) How I Live Now (2013) Marley (2012) The Eagle (2011) Life in a Day (2011) State of Play (2009) My Enemy’s Enemy (2007) The Last King of Scotland (2006) One Day in September (1999) FILM SUMMARY When Joe Simpson published “Touching the Void,” the wildly popular account of his near-death experience on the Siula Grande mountain in the Peruvian Andes, the film rights to the book became a hot commodity. Yet, translating this tale onto the silver screen was a difficult task, one that Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald thought was best suited for the documentary format. “I’m a purist,” Macdonald says. “I don’t like casually blurring the lines of documentary and drama.” So, he stays true to the memoir in his filmic adaptation. Using studio interviews and reenactments, Macdonald tells the thrilling story of Simpson’s climb, bringing us to the top of that treacherous mountain and down again. There was a reason that the West Face of the Siula Grande had never been ascended. It is perilous and menacing at its best. The majority of people would laugh at the prospect, which is exactly the reason Simpson and Yates set out for its peak. Confident young men full of athletic prowess, they alpined to the top, took the victorious photographs, and quickly set out to get back down, all while racing against a ticking clock. The biggest challenge of the journey unexpectedly proved to be the descent.
    [Show full text]
  • Book Reviews 1988 COMPILED by GEOFFREY TEMPLEMAN
    Book Reviews 1988 COMPILED BY GEOFFREY TEMPLEMAN Touching the Void Joe Simpson ]onathan Cape, 1988, Pp174, £10·95 In 1985 Joe Simpson and Simon Yates set out to climb the W face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They succeeded in their objective after three days and started on the descent of the N ridge in atrocious snow conditions. After a night on the ridge they continued their slow progress, breaking through cornices and having short falls, until one such fall resulted in Simpson breaking his leg. Yates started lowering Simpson down the W face, and they had almost reached the bottom when Simpson shot off over an overhanging cliff and was left hanging. After a considerable length of time in which nothing could be done, Yates cut the rope. Giving Simpson up for dead, he made his way back to Base Camp and, during the next three days, sorted out Simpson's belongings, burnt his clothes and prepared to leave camp. It was then that Simpson arrived in a state of exhausted delirium, having escaped from the deep crevasse into which he had fallen and crawled and hopped over the long glacier and moraine. The book recounts the story in a graphic and frank way. The psycho­ logical trauma following the decision to cut the rope; the thoughts engendered by being trapped in a deep crevasse with a broken leg; the embarrassment of the eventual meeting: these things are written about in depth and with a clarity that is only too well understood. You know Simpson will survive, but the tale is like a thriller - I almost said, a cliff-hanger - progressing from one dramatic situation to the next.
    [Show full text]
  • Slippery Slope
    Slippery Slope The film Touching the Void tells the true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates and their 1985 attempt to scale Siula Grande. While successful with the ascent, the steep descent they attempted got them in serious trouble. Simpson falls and breaks his leg part-way down the mountain, and Yates attempts to lower him down a particularly dangerous slope by means of a rope since he cannot walk. The slope is inclined at źŴ to the horizontal, and the coefficient of friction between Joe Simpson and the snowfield is ŴŻ. Joe is being held in equilibrium by a rope at an angle of Ź from the slope. Draw a force diagram to show all forces acting on Joe. Assuming Joe (and his kit) weighs ŵŴŴ˫˧ , find the minimum tension in the rope. What is the largest tension that could be applied to the rope? Slippery Slope Solutions The film Touching the Void tells the true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates and their 1985 attempt to scale Siula Grande. While successful with the ascent, the steep descent they attempted got them in serious trouble. Simpson falls and breaks his leg part-way down the mountain, and Yates attempts to lower him down a particularly dangerous slope by means of a rope since he cannot walk. The slope is inclined at źŴ to the horizontal, and the coefficient of friction between Joe Simpson and the snowfield is ŴŻ. Joe is being held in equilibrium by a rope at an angle of Ź from the slope. Draw a force diagram to show all forces acting on Joe: Assuming Joe (and his kit) weighs ŵŴŴ ˫˧ , find the minimum tension in the ro pe.
    [Show full text]
  • Sept, 2019 – (675
    1 B o o t p r i n t s The Bimonthly Newsletter of the Pioneer Valley Hiking Club President’s Corner: Our Club Picnic Sept, 2019 Inside this issue: by President Lori T i s d e l l Important Renew- 26 Every year Pioneer Valley Hiking Club hosts two social events. In August we al and Member- have the picnic, which is usually held at the Mt Tom Pavilion, and in Decem- ship Notices ber the holiday party, which will be at the Chicopee Elks Lodge this year. We Upcoming Events 27 And The Usuals are so lucky to have many members over the years who have volunteered to organize the social events. Important Notices 27 The last two years Erin Squires has organized the picnic. Each year there is a Special points of volunteer committee who help her with the organizing and decisions that i n t e re s t : make the picnic so much fun. There are usually two committee meetings to • Lori Tisdell’s President’s Corner lock down all the details. article on page 1 There is a lot of behind the scenes goings on in the weeks before. One of the • Cindy Dolgoff’s biggest decisions is how much food to buy to ensure there is enough for article on page 3 everyone but not so much left over that we’ve “wasted” club funds. It’s a fine line and it’s usually pretty close. Years ago, when I was organizing the picnic, • Sandy Sego’s I discovered a good place that has reasonable pricing and good quality 1st article on page 4 meats.
    [Show full text]
  • Touching the Void Points for Understanding Answer
    Intermediate Level Points for Understanding Answer Key Touching the Void Joe Simpson 1 1 Joe and Simon wanted to find a mountain that would be very challenging. They wanted to climb a mountain that would be difficult and dangerous, and where there were no other climbers or rescue helicopters. Siula Grande is in the Peruvian Andes which are very remote. They wanted to climb up the West Face because nobody had succeeded in climbing Siula Grande by the West Face before. 2 Richard was a traveller whom Joe and Simon had met in a hotel in Lima. They asked him to come with them because they wanted someone to look after their tents and equipment during the days that they were climbing Siula Grande. 3 The weather was worrying Joe. He was worried that a snowfall high up on the mountain could turn into a serious storm which would cause an avalanche. He was worried about something going wrong which would cause their death. Simon was less anxious than Joe, but he understood Joe’s fears. 2 The crevasses on the glacier were very dangerous because their openings were sometimes covered with snow. A climber could step onto this snow and fall through it into the deep crevasse underneath. 2 A climber and his partner make a team, who take it in turns to lead and follow. The leader hammers in the axes and pulls himself up by them, and his partner follows. The climbers are tied to each other by a rope. This means that if one person gets pulled off the mountain, the other person can get pulled off too.
    [Show full text]
  • Psychology of Survival – Who Survives 1
    Chapter 2: Psychology of Survival – Who Survives 1 The psychology of survival stresses the mental aspects of who survives in disasters and time of crisis. In this chapter, several of the topic headings are the titles of the books reviewed in the section. Generally, these titles reflect who lives and who doesn’t in a survival situation. There are a lot of books written on the subject of how to survive disasters, particularly after 911, the Twin Towers, and hurricane Katrina and Sandy. Who survives and who dies is actually an interesting topic. The chapter starts with the physiology of fear because the mind and body are intertwined closely in their reaction to fear and a crisis situation. Physiology of Fear – In discussing the psychology of survival, this section begins with a discussion of the physiology of fear. It is an example where the human body acts as a whole rather than its parts. It is included here because it is integral to how people react to disasters and crisis situations. The body’s reaction to fear is primeval. It is based on years of evolution. The body’s initial reaction to fear is to prepare the body for fight or flight. Literally, the body’s chemistry changes. In preparing the body, the changes both giveth and taketh away normal body functions. LeDoux (1999) considers the amygdala as the center of the brain’s defense system (Figure 2.1 and Figure 2.2). It stimulates the sympathetic nervous system’s reaction. These are unconscious reactions by the body. Typical reactions include the change of the blood chemistry so that it coagulates more quickly.
    [Show full text]
  • Manual Adrenaline White Fear Mountaineering Tales Can’T Mirror the Reality of Climbing Peru’S Intimidating Mount Tocllaraju
    manual adrenaline White Fear Mountaineering tales can’t mirror the reality of climbing Peru’s intimidating Mount Tocllaraju BY DAMIAN HALL THERE’S ONE PROBLEM with something being an armchair mountaineer – it of the same doesn’t prepare you for reality. In drama and my case, the reality of being three- heroism. I wanted to quarters of the way up a bloody big climb a mountain. WHAT? mountain. At 3.30 in the morning. I was already a committed Strap on your crampons and climb At -10º centigrade. At an oxygen-shy hiker. My next step was to one of the Cordillera Blanca’s many 5200 metres, where breathing is hard, learn some technical skills peaks, from mountains you can trek bordering on painful. by summitting three peaks on up to serious technical summits. Or I blame my former boss. a mountaineering course in New hike over breathtaking (figuratively I clearly remember him plonking a Zealand. While they may have been and literally) alpine passes and down copy of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air technically challenging, the Kiwi white long, glacier-carved valleys. on my desk. “Read this,” he’d said; pointers were all a bit, well, small. nothing more. The book is a chilling They didn’t feel like “real” mountains; WHY? firsthand account of Mount Everest’s not like the ones in the books. The region boasts 50 magnificent peaks worst disaster to date, and I was And so, almost inevitably it seemed, above 5500 metres. If size matters to hooked. I read mountaineering tales I found myself in the northern you, Mount Huascarán, the highest greedily from there.
    [Show full text]
  • I Lolled on the Rope, Scarcely Able to Hold My Head Up. an Awful Weariness Washed Through Me, and with It a Fervent Hope That This Endless Hanging Would Soon Be Over
    Joe Simpson, mountaineer, has broken his leg when descending Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. His climbing partner, Simon Yates, is painstakingly lowering him, by rope, down the mountain. It is already late in the day, and growing dark, when an unseen ice cliff threatens the two men’s safety. Joe, suspended above an enormous crevasse, realises that he is gradually pulling Simon with him to certain death. I lolled on the rope, scarcely able to hold my head up. An awful weariness washed through me, and with it a fervent hope that this endless hanging would soon be over. There was no need for the torture. I wanted with all my heart for it to finish. The rope jolted down a few inches. How long will you be, Simon? I thought. How long before you join me? It would be soon. I could feel the rope tremble again; wire-tight, it told me the truth as well as any phone call. So! It ends here. Pity! I hope somebody finds us, and knows we climbed the West Face. I don’t want to disappear without trace. They’d never know we did it. The wind swung me in a gentle circle. I looked at the crevasse beneath me, waiting for me. It was big. Twenty feet wide at least. I guessed that I was hanging fifty feet above it. It stretched along the base of the ice cliff. Below me it was covered with a roof of snow, but to the right it opened out and a dark space yawned there.
    [Show full text]
  • SAMPLE CHAPTER Ana De Castro Zara Kaiserimam
    MYP by Concept 3 English Language acquisition Phases 1–6 SAMPLE CHAPTER Ana de Castro Zara Kaiserimam 1880674 English for the IB MYP 3_SAMPLE.indd 3 21/07/2017 11:41 Contents 1 Am I ready for the real world? ............................................2 2 What’s that you said? ..............................................................20 3 How can we overcome difficult challenges? ..........40 4 Can we travel through writing? ........................................60 5 Is tradition worth preserving? ...........................................90 6 How do you see the world? .............................................. 124 Glossary ...........................................................................................154 Acknowledgements ................................................................ 155 880674_00_English for the IB MYP 3_Prelims.indd 3 10/07/2017 15:35 How to use Each chapter is framed with a Key concept , this book Related concept and set in a Global context. Welcome to Hodder Education’s Connections Purpose Identities and relationships MYP by Concept Series! Each chapter is designed to lead you through 1 Am I ready for an inquiry into the concepts of the real world? WATCH–THINK–SHARE Watch the short video entitled ‘When I grow up?’: Language acquisition, and how they www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4S8LnHZuuE In pairs, discuss, in English or in your mother tongue, what makes a job interesting. Although the future may seem interact in real-life global contexts. an eternity away, making Watch the video again and write down all the jobs that are mentioned. Then put these words purposeful connections into a word cloud. A word cloud is a way to with others helps us to display words in a visual form. You can use a word develop as individuals and cloud generator like www.wordle.net.
    [Show full text]
  • PERUVIAN ANDES ADVENTURES CIRCUIT of the CORDILLERA HUAYHUASH with Siula Grande 15 Days Trekking Grade: Hard the Cordillera
    PERUVIAN ANDES ADVENTURES CIRCUIT OF THE CORDILLERA HUAYHUASH with Siula Grande 15 days trekking Grade: Hard The Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit has been nominated in several guidebooks as one of the classic trekking circuits of the world. The Huayhuash is a compact, rugged range of jagged, vertical summits, including the second highest peak in Peru, Yerupajá Grande (6634m), as well as half a dozen other peaks above six thousand metres. Every day on this trek, hikers are treated to awesome views of towering snow capped peaks, glaciers and turquoise-blue trout-filled lakes. There are 8 passes to cross on this spectacular trek, the highest (Cuyoc) at 5000m. Our 15 day trek features a visit to the Base Camp of Siula Grande, made famous by the epic Joe Simpson book and film “Touching The Void”. Siula Lakes Important Note: In June 2009 the Huayhuash Community of Huayllapa closed access for trekkers to the Calinca Valley and Cutatambo. This is where the Siula Grande Base Camp is located. The community did this to protect the grazing for their cattle which are in the Calinca Valley. The trip to Siula Grande Base Camp has become so popular with trekkers that the number of trekking donkeys in the valley are decimating the grazing and causing damage to the fragile environment there. It is important that all trekking agencies respect the wishes of the local communities, as the whole of the Huayhuash Circuit is over private community-owned land. At some times the community will permit groups to enter the Calinca valley to camp and visit Siula Grande Base Camp, but access is not guaranteed and the community will not make a decision on granting access until groups actually arrive in the area.
    [Show full text]
  • Peruvian Andes Expedition 2018 Imperial College London Exploration Board Report
    Peruvian Andes Expedition 2018 Imperial College London Exploration Board Report Ben Honan & Kenneth Tan Contents 1 Expedition Plans . 5 1.1 Aims and Objectives 5 1.2 Background 5 1.2.1 Motivations . 5 1.2.2 Location . 5 1.2.3 Cultural Background . 6 2 Expedition Team . 9 3 Proposed and actual activity . 11 3.1 Itinerary 11 3.2 Discrepancies between itinerary and actual activity 12 4 Planning, Preparation and Training . 13 4.1 Navigation 13 4.1.1 Climate and Weather . 13 4.2 Terrain 14 4.2.1 Hiking . 14 4.2.2 Mountaineering . 14 4.3 Visas and Permits 14 4.4 Equipment 15 4.4.1 Clothing . 15 4 4.4.2 Camping and Sleeping . 15 4.4.3 Cooking and fuel . 15 4.5 Wildlife 15 4.6 Communications and Power 15 4.7 General Training 15 4.8 First Aid Training 16 4.9 Language 16 4.10 Inoculations 16 4.11 Hiking Plans 17 4.11.1 Santa Cruz - Alpamayo Circuit . 17 4.11.2 Huayhuash Circuit . 19 4.11.3 Quebrada Carhuascancha . 21 5 The Expedition . 23 5.1 Logbook 23 6 Equipment List . 55 6.1 Clothing 55 6.2 First Aid 56 6.3 Equipment brought to Peru 57 7 Safety Plan . 59 7.1 Medical and Travel Insurance 59 7.2 Incident Response 59 7.3 Evacuation Procedure 61 Bibliography . 64 Appendix A: Risk Assessment . 66 Appendix B: Lake Louise Self Assessment Scorecard . 72 Appendix C: Expenditure . 74 1. Expedition Plans 1.1 Aims and Objectives From the 15th July to the 5th of September 2018, we aimed to complete a number of long distance backpacking trips in the Peruvian Andes around the Cordillera Blanca and Huayhuash, traveling at high altitudes across pre-Incan trails that have been established for centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
    Touching the Void by Joe Simpson Since the beginning of our group we have tried to embrace a range of literature covering a variety of styles, from different times and places. Touching the Void is a true story of the late twentieth century set in the Peruvian Andes; an account of two young men seeking to be the first to attempt the unclimbed West Face of Siula Grande, a remote mountain few may have heard of, with insufficient backup if anything went wrong. “It is not just a book about mountaineering. Ultimately it is about the spirit of man and the lifeforce that drives us all” (Magnus Magnusson presenting the 1989 NCR Award). Besides winning awards, the events described in the book caused heated discussion in mountaineering circles. It was made into a film and is also a set text for GCSE. So what did our group make of this book? While there was general appreciation of the author’s writing skills it was not considered to be a book for bedtime reading ,as it graphically described the dangers of climbing mountains. One person summarised her views as, “The photographs were awesome and the language masterful”. Others used words such as absorbing and gripping and one person described how on one occasion, involvement in the story caused her to read for much longer than she intended. Our discussion of the events that unfolded during the climb led to a diverse and animated discussion. We discussed the friendship of the main characters Joe and Simon. One person remarked on their compatibility as characters, and maybe as climbing partners; thoughtful questioning Joe and analytical Simon, both very honest and resilient people.
    [Show full text]