Touching the Void

Saw this on Boston TV last night. What a story! How the disabled hiker managed to keep it together and emerge from the cravasse and crawl to base camp is just beyond belief.

Quick summary: 2 British hikers climbed a 20,000' peak in the Peruvian Andes by a never-before-ascended route, and on the way down one of the hikers fell off a cornice and badly broke his leg. His partner tried lowering him down the mountain (several thousand feet) using only his body weight as the anchor. It looked like they might pull it off, but in the middle of the night, the injured hiker became suspended above a large crevasse and they ran out of rope to lower him further. The hiker above could not see his partner's predicament, and after a couple of hours was in danger of falling himself. So he made the decision to cut the rope and save himself. He made his way down to base camp alive but full of guilt.

The injured hiker fell an estimated 150 feet (!!) into the crevasse, but somehow managed to survive the fall. Despite the broken leg, blood loss, lack of food or water and freezing temps, he descended to the bottom of the crevasse and found a way to crawl out to the surface. Over the next 3 days, he crawled and stumbled several more miles to base camp, where he was found by the base camp team.

And the fact that the 2 hikers remained friends is even more unbelievable. An incredible story of endurance. Check it out if you get a chance.....

I own the movie. You should rent or buy the DVD because there is much more to this story that is revealed in the bonus features -- which, I'd argue, is better than the movie! To say they remain friends is a huge overstatement. Simon's only motivation for making the movie, as he himself said, was because he was being paid to do it. He even went so far to say that he and Joe were NOT friends -- just climbing companions.

He also said (and I find this difficult to believe), that this whole event was nothing more significant to him than any other adventure he'd been on.

Very revealing, and some of it was difficult to digest. The movie was excellent and very well made. The bonus features were really where it was at, for me.

Elk Oil said:

To say they remain friends is a huge overstatement. Simon's only motivation for making the movie, as he himself said, was because he was being paid to do it. He even went so far to say that he and Joe were NOT friends -- just climbing companions.

He also said (and I find this difficult to believe), that this whole event was nothing more significant to him than any other adventure he'd been on.

Click to expand...

I'd like to see the expanded version. I saw the show last night and got a little creeped out by the attitudes these guys sometimes displayed. There was definitely a tension underlying the whole thing, but I wrote it off as a display of the stiff British upper lip. But all of the psychological stuff aside, it is a remarkable story of physical endurance.

I agree with Elk Oil, the bonus features on the DVD are as good or better than the movie! You definately don't get the impression that they are still friends, or ever really were...

I'm reading Joe Simpson's latest book & while he remained/remains in contact with Simon apparently from the text, they have not done much climbing in the last several years together. I'm only about 1/2 way through but Joe had other friends he climbed with, para-sailed with & he has been busy writing books & doing some motivational speaking to non-hiking groups, likely due to the don't quit attitude that got him back to camp.

Seems the group is a loose knit climbing community, doing a lot of first ascents, high altitude mountaineering. Getting too close to others in that field can be very painful due to the mortality rate.

Finally did get the DVD player fixed & rented TtV.
Friendship, when the stakes are that high & you know several people who have died, you keep at arms length, real friends are those you keep close to you no matter what the activity.

Had things gone differently on Siula Grande, maybe they would have become friends but Joe spent 18 months out of commission, Simon was in the middle of intense controversy on cutting the rope, even though Joe agreed with the decison to cut it so Simon went on to climb more & to put the incident behind him, he prompty went to do the North Face of the Eiger which Joe would attempt many years later (I still haven't finished that part of Joe's latest book, they are on the face)

They definitely stayed close shortly after Siula Grande as Joe wrote the book which was done similar to the movie, with both telling what they went through but Joe became famous and has made some money on his writing & Simon became the other guy who cut the rope that his climbing partner was on. Joe has done motiviational speeches for business groups Simon just for climbing groups.

While in town just prior to starting the Eiger, Joe & his climbing partner, another guy with the first name Simon I believe if memory serves right meet one of the guys who was on the ascent of the North Face written about in the White Spider, another classic book. Joe & Simon talk a little bit about why they think they will be okay on the Eiger, they have done peaks in Asia, the Alps & South America & the old mans wife remarks South America, did they read the book about the guy who had to call down that mountain?

While the movie is good, teh trailers are the good, the book is better as usual.