Touching The Void - Couverture rigide

Simpson, Joe

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0224025457 ISBN 13 : 9780224025454

Editeur : Jonathan Cape, 1988

Synopsis

This book is an illustrated account of the ascent of the west face of the 21,000ft peak, Siula Grande, in the Peruvian Andes. The author and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, achieved the summit in June 1985 before disaster struck. A few days later, Yates staggered into base camp, exhausted and frostbitten, to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead. For three days Simon Yates, believing that he had caused his friend's death, suffered torment and guilt. However, a cry in the night led them to Joe, badly injured and delirious, crawling through the snow. Far from causing his friend's death, Simon had paradoxically saved his life when he cut the rope. What happened and how they dealt with the resulting psychological trauma is the subject of this book.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

"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 break camp.

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 Plain Dealer

"Simpson touches a nerve of the mountaineering community and the hearts of others."
--Los Angeles Times

"Riveting, even compulsive reading."
--Minneapolis Star Tribune

Présentation de l'éditeur

THE BOOK BEHIND THE AWARD-WINNING FILM

Joe Simpson, with just his partner Simon Yates, tackled the unclimbed West Face of the remote 21,000 foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in June 1995. But before they reached the summit, disaster struck.

A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frostbitten, to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead. For three days he wrestled with guilt as they prepared to return home. Then a cry in the night took them out with torches, where they found Joe, badly injured, crawling through the snowstorm in a delirium.

Far from causing Joe's death, Simon had paradoxically saved his friend's life. What happened, and how they 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.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Jonathan Cape
• Date d'édition: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0224025457
• ISBN 13: 9780224025454
• Reliure: Relié
• Langue: anglais
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 176
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible