Short description
An account of the ascent of the 21,000ft Siula Grande peak in the Peruvian Andes. Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had achieved the summit before the first disaster struck. What happened and how they dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted is the subject of this book.
Long description
The book behind the BAFTA award-winning film. Winner of the NCR Award for non-fiction and the Boardman Tasker award. Touching the Void is the heart-stopping account of Joe Simpson's terrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. He and his climbing partner, Simon, reached the the summit of the remote Siula Grande in June 1995. A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frost-bitten, with news that that Joe was dead. What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.
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 On every level it is an outstanding literary achievement Independent A quite extraordinary and moving book...Touching the Void touches the Great Questions in an understated yet utterly compelling way Guardian A truly astonishing account of suffering and fortitude...the narrative acquires an irresistible force, carrying all before it Sunday Times
additional information
Joe Simpson is the author of several bestselling books, of which the first, Touching the Void, won both the NCR award and the Boardman Tasker Award. His later books are This Game of Ghosts - the sequel to Touching the Void - Storms of Silence, Dark Shadows Falling, The Beckoning Silence and one previous novel, The Water People.
Customer reviews & ratings
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What a Read!
Reviewed by Mrs Mariella de Lange from Welkom, South Africa on 04 April 2007
144 of 305 people found the following review helpful:
Un-put-downable! This was an amazing story of one man's survival. The way both mountaineers' feelings were revealed was awesome. It felt as if I climbed the mountain and suffered the ordeal with them. I was exhausted at the end. The most amazing is realizing what the body and mind is capable of when alone, and once help is at hand, how this is exhausted.
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