Touching the Void is a book by Joe Simpson recounting the true story of Simpson's and Simon Yates' disastrous and near fatal attempt to climb the 6,344 metre (20,813 foot) Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. 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. The film won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2004 BAFTA Awards and was featured at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Joe Simpson (born 13 August 1960) is a mountaineer and author. ... Simon Yates (born 1963) is a British mountaineer made famous by the book Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, about a successful but disastrous attempt by him and the author to climb the West Face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, in 1985. ... Siula Grande is a mountain in the Cordillera Huayhuash, in the Peruvian Andes. ... Planes view of the Andes, Peru. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Touching the Void is a 2003 documentary film based on the book of the same name by Joe Simpson about Simpsons and Simon Yates disastrous and near fatal attempt to climb the 6,344 metre (20,813 foot) Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. ... Kevin Macdonald (born October 28, 1967) is a Scottish documentary film director, best known for One Day in September (2000) and Touching the Void (2003). ... Sir Alexander Korda (September 16, 1893 - January 23, 1956) was a film director and producer, a leading figure in the British film industry and the founder of London Films. ... shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organization that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ... The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival in the United States, and ranks alongside the Cannes, France, Venice, Italy, Berlin, Germany, and Toronto, Canada festivals as one of the most prestigious in the world. ...

Synopsis

Although previously attempted, Yates and Simpson were the first people to ascend to the summit of Siula Grande via the almost vertical west face. Disaster struck, however, on the descent. Simpson slipped down an ice cliff and landed awkwardly, smashing his tibia into his knee joint and breaking it. The pair, whose trip had already taken longer than they intended due to bad weather on the ascent, had run out of water and gas (which could have been used to melt ice and snow) and needed to descend quickly to their base camp, about 3,000 feet below. This article is about the vertebrate bone. ...

They proceeded by tying two one hundred and fifty foot long ropes together and then tying themselves to each end. Yates dug himself into a hole in the snow and lowered Simpson down the mountain on the 300 feet of rope. But because the two ropes were tied together, the knot wouldn't go through the belay plates, so Simpson would have to stand on his good leg so it could give Yates enough slack to be able to unclip the rope, and then thread the rope back through the lowering device, with the knot on the other side. A second disaster struck however when Simpson was lowered over a 100 foot overhanging cliff and left dangling in mid-air. Yates could not see Simpson, but felt all his weight on the rope, very slowly pulling Yates down the mountain. He held on for about an hour but convinced that Simpson was dead was forced to cut the rope linking them, dropping Simpson into a crevasse. Measuring snowpack in a crevasse on the Easton Glacier, North Cascades, USA A crevasse is a crack or fissure in a glacier or snow field. ...

The next morning Yates descended the mountain alone, and found the cliff. He realized what must have happened to Simpson and to his horror saw the crevasse below. He was certain that Simpson must have died in the crevasse and descended the rest of the mountain alone, which is itself a dangerous feat.

In fact, Simpson had survived, despite a 100 foot fall and broken leg. When he took in the rope, he discovered the end was cut. He eventually abseiled from his landing spot on an ice bridge (which broke his fall and therefore presumably saved his life) to the bottom of the crevasse, and crawled out back onto the glacier via a side opening. From there, he spent three days, without food and only splashes of water from melting ice, crawling and hopping five miles back to the base camp. Almost completely delusional, he reached the base camp a few hours before Yates intended to leave the camp to return to civilization. In British English, abseiling (from the German abseilen, to rope down) is the process of descending on a fixed rope. ... Glacial and Glaciation redirect here. ...

Simpson's survival is widely regarded by mountaineers as amongst the most amazing pieces of mountaineering lore in history. Mountaineering is an umbrella term that can variously be used to describe the actions of climbing, hillwalking and scrambling. ...

The film

Main article: Touching the Void (film)

The 2003 documentary film film combines documentary footage of interviews conducted with Simpson, Yates and Richard Hawking with a reenactment performed by actors Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron and Ollie Ryall. Touching the Void is a 2003 documentary film based on the book of the same name by Joe Simpson about Simpsons and Simon Yates disastrous and near fatal attempt to climb the 6,344 metre (20,813 foot) Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. ... Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... Joe Simpson (born 13 August 1960) is a mountaineer and author. ... Simon Yates (born 1963) is a British mountaineer made famous by the book Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, about a successful but disastrous attempt by him and the author to climb the West Face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, in 1985. ...

Bibliography

• Touching the Void, by Joe Simpson, ISBN 0-09-977101-2 published by Vintage

Cultural References

Simpson on the Mountain is referred to in Ali in the Jungle, a song by The Hours, as an example of courage over adversity. Ali in the Jungle was a song released as a single by The Hours, released in November 2006. ... The Hours can refer to: Michael Cunninghams Novel Stephen Daldrys Movie Virginia Woolfs Mrs. ...

References