Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival Paperback Author: Visit Amazon's Joe Simpson Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0060730552 | Format: PDF, EPUB
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Amazon.com Review
Concise and yet packed with detail,
Touching the Void, Joe Simpson's harrowing account of near-death in the Peruvian Andes, is a compact tour de force that wrestles with issues of bravery, friendship, physical endurance, the code of the mountains, and the will to live. Simpson dedicates the book to his climbing partner, Simon Yates, and to "those friends who have gone to the mountains and have not returned." What is it that compels certain individuals to willingly seek out the most inhospitable climate on earth? To risk their lives in an attempt to leave footprints where few or none have gone before? Simpson's vivid narrative of a dangerous climbing expedition will convince even the most die-hard couch potato that such pursuits fall within the realm of the sane. As the author struggles ever higher, readers learn of the mountain's awesome power, the beautiful--and sometimes deadly--sheets of blue glacial ice, and the accomplishment of a successful ascent. And then catastrophe: the second half of
Touching the Void sees Simpson at his darkest moment. With a smashed, useless leg, he and his partner must struggle down a near-vertical face--and that's only the beginning of their troubles.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
"A brilliant, vivd, gripping, heart-stopping account of their terrifying adventure... Superbly written" Sunday Express "One of the absolute classics of mountaineering...a document of psychological, even philosophical witness of the rarest compulsion" --George Steiner, Sunday Times
The thrilling adventure of the century. A mountaineering classic with a happy ending. --gilberto.dur@gmail.com
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Books with free ebook downloads available Download Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival
- Paperback: 218 pages
- Publisher: Perennial; Revised edition (February 3, 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060730552
- ISBN-13: 978-0060730550
- Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
`Touching the Void' is the story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates who climbed the West Face of Siula Grande, a mountain in the Peruvian Andes. After an accident Simpson has a broken leg and little chance of getting off the mountain alive. Yates lowers Simpson off the mountain quickly (as they do not have enough supplies to stay on the mountain) and unknowingly off a cliff face. Simpson cannot beck up the rope and Yates cannot pull him back up. Seconds before being pulled off the face of the cliff himself Yates cuts the rope and Simpson falls off the cliff and down the mountain. Yates, leaving the mountain the next morning, thinking Simpson dead, leaves Simpson to crawl off the mountain with his injuries.
In the best portions of the book you get both Yates's and Simpson's thoughts about the accident, where they were and what was happening step by step in the days following the accident. You feel the pain, guilt, fear, and panic in both parties and get the idea that something fantastic occurred on Siula Grande.
I say you get the feeling because in the poorer portions of the book you do not understand why one `crevasse' is worse than another, why a `pear shaped cornice' is a bad omen, why it is hard to place a `friend' in a secure position on the mountain, and why a `bollard' is dubious. In Simpson's words one portion of the mountain blends into the other and you have to be told this portion is scary, or that he is making progressing, rather than seeing why he is scared or how he is making progress.
Simpson admits as much in the Epilogue to the book when he says `I simply could not find the words to express the utter desolation of the experience' and to be fair Simpson was not an experienced writer at the time of this book (he has written six since then).
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