I've been thinking for the past few months that I want to kick my climbing up a notch and start mountaineering. Touching the Void is the heart-stopping account of Joe Simpson’s terrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. A documentary based on the book of the same name by Joe Simpson about Simpson's and Simon Yates' disastrous and […]
That's all we ever did. It features additional photography from the expedition. Especially this one as their method was different than all the other accounts I’ve read of mountain climbers. And I initially wanted to say this book was also inspiring because "indomitable will to live," "when you're going through hell keep going," etc., but really, it was just painful. The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. Joe Simpson is the author of the bestselling Touching the Void, as well as four subsequent non fiction books published by The Mountaineers Books This Game of Ghosts, Storms of Silence, Dark Shadows Falling, and The Beckoning Silence The Beckoning Silence won the 2003 National Outdoor Book Award The other three published by The Mountaineers Books were all shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Awa WALKING THE WRONG SIDE OF THE GRASS on Kindle. I read this before I saw the excellent film but I don't think it would matter which way round you met this amazing story. If you are looking for a great book about rock climbing/mountaineering, or a book about beating the odds, or a book that is just going to make you squirm in sympathetic pain, then this is the book for you. The two climbers push themselves when they should have rested and take some other unnecessary risks so when the author Joe Simpson falls and breaks his leg, they are fatigued and their supplies are limited. Suddenly, as Simon is lowering Joe into the mists, all of Joe's weight pulls the rope taught. I hope not!....A straight forward story of a couple mistakes on a mountain leading to one climber fighting to survive for a couple days as he makes his way back to camp. Joe Sims. Along with his friend Simon Yates, he is attempting to climb a mountain in Peru, Siula Grande by a route that had never been climbed before. I do seem to adore mountain climbing books, although it’s a totally vicarious experience as you could never get me on one of these expeditions. Set in 1936, as Nazi propaganda urges the nation's ... The writing was stellar, creating an immediacy to each scene with such power that, despite knowing the outcome, I was on the edge of my seat throughout. And every now and then it went wildly wrong. The other three published by The Mountaineers Books were all shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Awa Joe Simpson is the author of the bestselling Touching the Void, as well as four subsequent non-fiction books published by The Mountaineers Books: This Game of Ghosts, Storms of Silence, Dark Shadows Falling, and The Beckoning Silence. However, this book also made me so angry. In terms of nonfiction mountain disaster stories, I much preferred A straight forward story of a couple mistakes on a mountain leading to one climber fighting to survive for a couple days as he makes his way back to camp. It was just as harrowing to read and I could feel the tension & fear leap off the pages. I mean, maybe the only meaning we have anywhere is the meaning we give things since we are the meaning-making monkeys, but those elevations are places we just were not made to live (nor was anything else, really).
The writing was stellar, creating an immediacy to each scene with such power that, despite knowing the outcome, I was on the edge of my seat throughout. I opened the front cover and in the first paragraph I found my battle plan. And we were fairly anarchic and fairly irresponsible, and we didn't give a damn about anyone else or anything else, and we just wanted to climb the world. You'll forgive me but its hard not to speak in terms like, best, greatest, ect when you talk about this film.
Three elite climbers struggle to find their way through obsession and loss as they attempt to climb Mount Meru, one of the most coveted prizes in the high stakes game of Himalayan big wall climbing. The film stars Brendan Mackey as Joe Simpson, Nicholas Aaron as Simon Yates, and Ollie Ryall as Richard Hawking, and combines dramatizations with interviews with Simpson, Yates, and Hawking.
Could I forgive someone who left me to die?
Was this review helpful to you? It's the inhospitality of the environment, the complete lack of meaning humans have there.
The terrain is nearly impossible to traverse, and (laden with equipment) their only option is to "jump" into thin air over a deep crevasse to a nearby ledge in order to ascend any further… There were no margins for error here, and how these two dealt with it and their emotions when the worst occurred, was beyond understanding. It’s a great story and true; it’s terrifying and gripping. This book operates on two speeds: fast and faster. The book openly discusses the risks and the mistakes that led to the crises (plural intentional) and the ethical questions of cutting the rope and leaving one’s partner on the mountain. Joe Simpson's Touching the Void. Especially this one as their method was different than all the other accounts I’ve read of mountain climbers. My hands feeling frostbitten as I washed dishes, and just sitting staring at my floor, as the moral calculus of Simon's decisions rang through my head. Directed by Kevin Macdonald. I read it mostly on the edge of my seat. And then it wasn't. Watch on IFC Films Unlimited It seemed incredible. If I hadn't been reading several other books at the same time, it would have been a one or two day read with its scanty 174 pages. There was no emotion in this; the storytelling was flat.