Touching the Void

"A truly astounding account of suffering and fortitude."--"The Times" (London)Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had just reached the top of a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when disaster struck.Simpson plunged off the vertical face of an ice ledge, breaking his leg. In the hours that followed, darkness fell and a blizzard raged as Yates tried to lower his friend to safety. Finally, Yates was forced to cut the rope, moments before he would have been pulled to his own death. The next three days were an impossibly grueling ordeal for both men. Yates, certain that Simpson was dead, returned to base camp consumed with grief and guilt over abandoning him. Miraculously, Simpson had survived the fall but, crippled, starving, and severely frostbitten, was trapped in a deep crevasse. Summoning vast reserves of physical and spiritual strength, Simpson hopped, hobbled, and crawled over the cliffs and canyons of the Andes, reaching the base hours before Yates had planned to breakcamp. How both men overcame the torments of those harrowing days is an epic tale of fear, suffering, and survival; a poignant testament to unshakable courage and friendship."Told with lyrical quality and stunning immediacy, "Touching the Void" transcends its genre and becomes accessible to readers who have never had any desire to climb a glacier." --"New York Newsday""A gripping narrative that should excite armchair adventurers everywhere."--Cleveland PlSimpson, Joe is the author of 'Touching the Void', published 1989 under ISBN 9780060916541 and ISBN 0060916540.