Touching the Void is When Miracles Occur

I was out walking today, decided I have eaten a few too many chocolates (naughty). Anyway, I thought I will climb a nearby mountain. It is a very good walk. Anyway on the trail I met a nice old guy and he said it is a fair walk up here. I asked how far to the summit, he said around 20 minutes. Not too far I thought. Anyway, I said I’ve climbed a lot worse, Machu Picchu, or more accurately Wanu Piccu. It was near vertical towards the end, you had to use a rope to pull yourself up. My legs felt like I had done a thousand workouts. It took me 1.5 hours but it felt good to climb that mountain. When you look down you can see Machu Picchu and the Inca village which is in the shape of a Condor. Anyway, I told this lovely guy about Peru and he was really interested. He said it reminded him of a great documentary called ‘Touching the Void’, he spoke of a story of two men climbing a mountain (childhood friends) and one broke his leg and the other had to leave him. Anyway, I won’t spoil the story but will paste it here for you to read. It gives credence to the idea, when your number is up it is up, if not, whalla, miracles do occur.

Enjoy the magic of life, it is all around us when we stop and really go with the flow. We live in a wonderful world.

This is courtesy of wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touching_the_Void

Touching the Void is a 1988 book by Joe Simpson, recounting his and Simon Yates’s disastrous and nearly fatal climb of the 6,344-metre (20,813 foot) Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.

The book won the 1988 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature[1] and the 1989 NCR Book Award.

In 2003, fifteen years after it was first published, the book was turned into a documentary film of the same name, directed by Kevin MacDonald. The film won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2003 BAFTA Awards [2] and was featured at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.[3]

Synopsis
Siula Grande

In 1985, Yates and Simpson attempted a first-ascent of the previously unclimbed West Face of Siula Grande. Several teams had previously tried and failed to climb this face. Yates and Simpson were successful in their attempt, and after summiting they descended via the difficult North Ridge. Disaster struck on the descent when Simpson slipped down an ice cliff and landed awkwardly, smashing his tibia into his knee joint and breaking it. The pair, whose trip had already taken longer than they intended because of bad weather on the ascent, had run out of fuel for their stove and could not melt ice and snow for drinking water. With bad weather closing in and daylight fading, they needed to descend quickly to the glacier, about 3,000 feet below.

Yates proceeded to lower Simpson off the North Ridge by tying two 150′ lengths of rope together to make one longer 300-foot rope. However because the two ropes were tied together, the knot couldn’t go through the belay plate. Simpson would have to stand on his good leg to give Yates enough slack to unclip the rope, in order to thread the rope back through the lowering device with the knot on the other side. With storm conditions worsening and darkness upon them, Yates inadvertently lowered Simpson off a cliff. Because Yates was sitting higher up the mountain, he could not see or hear Simpson; he could only feel that Simpson had all his weight on the rope. Simpson attempted to ascend the rope using a Prusik knot. However, because his hands were badly frost-bitten, he was unable to tie the knots properly and accidentally dropped one of the cords required to ascend the rope.

The pair were stuck in a very bad situation. Simpson could not climb up the rope, Yates could not pull him back up, and the cliff was too high for Simpson to be lowered down. They remained in this position for some time, until it was obvious that the snow around Yate’s belay seat was about to give out. Because the pair were tied together, they would both be pulled to their deaths. Yates had little choice but to cut the rope.

When Yates cut the rope, Simpson plummeted down the cliff and into a deep crevasse. Exhausted and suffering from hypothermia, Yates dug himself a snow cave to wait out the storm. The next day, Yates carried on descending the mountain by himself. When he reached the crevasse he realized the situation that Simpson had been in, and what had happened when he cut the rope. After calling for Simpson and hearing no reply, Yates was forced to assume that he had died and so continued down the mountain alone.

Simpson, however, was still alive. He had survived the 150-foot fall despite his broken leg, and had landed on a small ledge inside the crevasse. When Simpson regained consciousness, he discovered that the rope had been cut and realized that Yates would presume that he was dead. He therefore had to save himself. Simpson eventually abseiled from his landing spot onto a thin ice roof part way down the crevasse, and climbed back onto the glacier via a steep snow slope.

From there, Simpson spent three days without food and with almost no water, crawling and hopping five miles back to their base camp. Exhausted and almost completely delirious, he reached their tents only a few hours before Yates intended to return to civilization.

Simpson’s survival is widely regarded by mountaineers as amongst the most amazing pieces of mountaineering lore.[4]

So folks live life to the fullest, don’t be afraid to touch the void, could just end up a best seller and an inspiration for everyone.