Touching The Void

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When he regained consciousness, he discovered that the rope had been cut and concluded that Yates had probably survived but would presume that he was dead. With storm conditions worsening and darkness upon them, Yates continued lowering Simpson for what he estimated would be the last or penultimate time. The slope that Simpson was being lowered down became gradually steeper and eventually he went over the edge of a cliff and was hanging free with his whole weight on the rope.

The two young and headstrong men choose to climb the daunting West Face of the 20,813 foot Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash mountain range. You think you’ve got some plan for your life and that’s the first thing that goes out the window, isn’t it? This involved navigating the glacier (which was scattered with more crevasses) and the moraines below. From 2000 to 2003, he attempted to climb the North Face of Eiger in Switzerland six times but had to abort due to bad weather conditions.Therefore, his only choice was to abseil deeper into the crevasse and hope that there was another way out. However, because his hands were badly frostbitten, he struggled to tie the knots properly and accidentally dropped one of the two loops required to ascend the rope. In the process, Simpson became a hero and Yates an arch villain – both of which notions Simpson strongly rejects.

They had triumphantly reached the summit, when a horrific accident mid-descent forced one friend to leave another for dead. Exhausted and suffering from hypothermia and frostbite, Yates dug himself a snow cave to wait out the storm. The system worked; Yates lowered Simpson approximately 3000 feet by this method and the pair felt they were regaining control of the situation estimating that they had almost descended to the relative safety of the glacier. He had survived the fall of more than 200 feet (61 meters) and had landed on a small ledge inside the crevasse. It then had an extended run on the West End and will be performed live and to a streamed audience from 26 to 29 May 2021 at Bristol Old Vic.The steep open snow and ice slope to be descended did not have any belay points or other anchors from which Yates could secure himself to lower his companion so they created a stance by excavating a shallow cavity/seat where Yates could brace himself to take the strain of Simpson's weight on the rope and control the descent. Ambition, morality, fear and camaraderie are explored in this electronic edition of the mountaineering classic, with never before seen colour photographs taken during the trip itself. With bad weather closing in and daylight fading, they needed to descend quickly to the glacier, about 3,000 feet (900m) below. Simpson was lowered 150 feet until the knot in the rope came up against the belay plate, at which point he had to take his weight off the rope by standing on his uninjured leg.

They began descending via the peak's North Ridge which the pair found unexpectedly challenging with Yates falling through a cornice down the face they had just climbed but he was held by the rope which prevented him falling 4500ft to his death. Did you see Free Solo, the Oscar-winning documentary film about Alex Honnold ’s attempt to climb El Capitan in Yosemite without ropes? In 1985, 25-year-old Joe Simpson and another British climber, Simon Yates, 21, were climbing the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes when Simpson fell and badly broke his leg. From there, Simpson spent three days without food and with almost no water, crawling and hopping five miles (8km) back to their base camp.

When he reached the glacier he could see from below the position in which Simpson had been hanging and observed the large crevasse immediately underneath.

In 2003, fifteen years after it was first published, the book was turned into a documentary film of the same name, directed by Kevin MacDonald. Of course, I might just be talking out my arse, because I’ve been asked this question so many times, but I’ve always thought it’s more than just an adventure story.This gave Yates enough slack to unclip the rope and rethread it back through the lowering device with the knot on the other side, following which he lowered Simpson a further 150 feet. If they are successful, their feat would be considered a major achievement in the mountaineering community.