MOUNTAINEERING INFORMATION ARTICLES

Joe Simpson: Siula Grande Survivor

Born August 13, 1960 in the city of Sheffield in Sovuth Yorkshire, England, Joe Simpson is one of the known mountaineers of all time. Made famous by his fateful experience while doing the thing he is most passionate about, this mountaineering icon had endured the perils in the mountain in order to remain alive.

Joe Simpson, together with friend Simon Yates, attempted to climb the West Face of Siula Grande in 1985, the first attempt to ascent to the peak via this route. Found in Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in Lima, Peru, the 6,344-meter high Siula Grande is the second highest among the mountains in Cordillera Huayhuash, and is considered one of the most difficult mountains to climb. Their ascent to the summit at 21,000 feet deemed successful, but on their descent Simpson slipped vertical on an ice cliff and smashed his right knee. Another disaster occurred when Simpson was left dangling as the ropes tying both climbers had stuck against a belay plate. Yates had cut the rope after an hour, dropping Simpson into a crevasse. Simpson had survived the 100-feet fall and found himself a way out of the crevasse, with a broken leg and suffering severe hypothermia and dehydration. After descending the mountain for three and a half days, he arrived at the base camp and found Simon Yates and Richard Hawking, surprised that he had survived the difficult ordeal.

After his near-death experience, Simpson went on to write three books, entitled Touching the Void, The Beckoning Silence and This Game of Ghosts. His book Touching the Void won the 1988 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and the 1989 NCR Book Award. After selling more than a million copies of the book, it was translated into a documentary film and grabbed the 2004 British Academy Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year. With his experiences in mountaineering, he also moved on to become a motivational speaker, addressing various events all over the world.

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