''Touching the Void'' is a 1988 book by
Joe Simpson, recounting his and
Simon Yates's near fatal descent after climbing the peak
Siula Grande
Siula Grande is a mountain in the Huayhuash mountain range in the Peruvian Andes. It is high and has a subpeak, Siula Chico, high.
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''Touching the Void'' ascent
In 1985 Siula Grande was climbed by Joe Simpson and Simon Yates. Altho ...
in the
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
vian
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
. Approximately 15% of the book is written by Yates. It has sold over a million copies and has been translated into over 20 languages.
Summary
In 1985, Simpson and Yates reached the summit of
Siula Grande
Siula Grande is a mountain in the Huayhuash mountain range in the Peruvian Andes. It is high and has a subpeak, Siula Chico, high.
__NOTOC__
''Touching the Void'' ascent
In 1985 Siula Grande was climbed by Joe Simpson and Simon Yates. Altho ...
, a major peak in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes via the previously unclimbed West Face. They began descending via the peak's North Ridge which the pair found unexpectedly challenging with Yates falling through a
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
down the face they had just climbed but he was held by the rope which prevented him falling 4500 ft to his death. Because the difficult terrain and the poor weather conditions prevented rapid progress with the descent, the pair had to spend a night in a snow hole on the ridge. During the night they had eaten the last of their food and used the last of fuel for their stove to melt ice and snow for drinking water. Continuing the descent the following morning Simpson fell from an ice cliff and landed awkwardly, breaking his right leg and crushing his
tibia
The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
into his
knee joint
In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...
. With bad weather closing in and daylight fading, they needed to descend quickly to the glacier, about below.
Yates proceeded to lower Simpson off the North Ridge using their two ropes tied together to make one rope, controlling the speed at which he lowered Simpson using a
belay plate. This methodology meant that each lower had to proceed in three stages: two to descend each rope length, and one to negotiate the join between them. 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. 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. 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. Then when Simpson had made himself secure, Yates would downclimb to Simpson's position and the pair then created another stance from which the procedure could be repeated. 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. 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. Because Yates was sitting higher up the mountain, he could not see nor hear Simpson to fully assess the situation; he could only feel that Simpson had all his weight on the rope. Simpson attempted to ascend the rope using
Prusik loops. 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.
The pair were both in mortal danger. Simpson could not climb up the rope, Yates could not pull him back up, they could not communicate and, although they could not know this, the cliff was too high for Simpson to be lowered down. They remained in this position for some time (Yates estimates in excess of one and a half hours
[Yates, Simon. Interviewed in the docudrama film ''Touching the Void'', 2003.]), until it was obvious to Yates that his unbelayed stance, merely a seat dug into the near vertical snow slope without any fixed anchors, was gradually collapsing as he began to be pulled downwards in 'small jerky steps'.
Yates knew he was about to be pulled from the cliff and that he would fall the 150 ft he was above Simpson plus some unknown additional distance to the glacier below and concluded he needed to cut the rope in order to prevent a fall that would almost certainly kill him. Yates cut the rope not knowing how far Simpson was from the base of the cliff; Simpson plummeted down the cliff and into a deep
crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...
. Exhausted and suffering from
hypothermia
Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...
and frostbite, Yates dug himself a
snow cave
A snow cave is a shelter constructed from snow by certain animals in the wild, human mountain climbers, winter recreational enthusiasts, and winter survivalists. It has thermal properties similar to an igloo and is particularly effective at prov ...
to wait out the storm. The next morning in clear weather, Yates carried on descending the mountain by himself. 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. Yates realized the situation that Simpson had been in and that he must have fallen into the crevasse when the rope was cut. He then approached the edge of the crevasse calling out to Simpson by name and, hearing no reply, Yates concluded that Simpson had been killed by the fall into the crevasse and so continued down the mountain alone.
Simpson, however, was still alive. He had survived the fall of more than and had landed on a small ledge inside the crevasse. 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. He therefore had to save himself but he found it impossible to climb up to the entrance of the crevasse, because of the overhanging ice and his broken leg. Therefore, his only choice was to abseil deeper into the crevasse and hope that there was another way out. After lowering himself, Simpson found himself on a snow bridge which he crossed to get on to a steep snow slope which he climbed to get back onto the
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
.
In a fortunate coincidence, although Yates had no choice as to where in the rope's length he made the cut (it happened to be in the middle) it left each climber a sufficient length of rope to extricate themselves from their overnight positions. Yates had enough rope to abseil to safety from his snow hole and Simpson had enough rope to get to a point in the crevasse where he could climb out.
From there, Simpson spent three days without food and with almost no water, crawling and hopping back to their base camp. This involved navigating the glacier (which was scattered with more crevasses) and the
moraine
A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...
s below. Exhausted and delirious, he reached base camp only a few hours before Yates and Richard Hawking (the third member of the group, a non-climber) intended to leave the base camp and return to civilization.
Simpson's survival is regarded by mountaineers as amongst the most remarkable instances of survival against the odds.
Awards
The book won the 1989
Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature is an annual prize of £3,000 awarded by the Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust to an author or authors for "an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature". The pr ...
and the 1989
NCR Book Award
The NCR Book Award for Non-Fiction, established in 1987 and sponsored by NCR Corporation, was for a time the UK's major award for non-fiction. Closing in 1997 after a period of decline and scandal, it is best remembered as the forerunner of the Sam ...
.
Adaptations
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 2003
BAFTA Awards and was featured at the 2004
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
. In 2014, the book was being used in the English literature
AQA GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
course nationally in England.
In 2017, it was announced the book was being adapted for the stage by
David Greig and that the
play
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* Pla ...
would receive its world premiere the following year
and would begin previews at the
Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...
on 8 September 2018,
with an official opening night on 18 September,
booking for a limited period until 6 October. 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.
Notes
References
*{{cite book , title= Touching the Void , last= Simpson , first= Joe , author-link= Joe_Simpson_(mountaineer) , year= 1988 , publisher= Perennial , isbn= 978-0-06-073055-0 , page
218, url-access= registration , url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780060730550/page/218
Touching the Void– 25th Anniversary ebook Edition Interview
1988 non-fiction books
Mountaineering books
Jonathan Cape books