The 25th Anniversary ebook, now with more than 50 images. ‘Touching the Void’ is the tale of two mountaineer’s harrowing ordeal in the Peruvian Andes. In the summer of 1985, two young, headstrong mountaineers set off to conquer an unclimbed route. They had triumphantly reached the summit, when a horrific accident mid-descent forced one friend to leave another for dead. Ambition, morality, fear … and camaraderie are explored in this electronic edition of the mountaineering classic, with never before seen colour photographs taken during the trip itself.
Included in the ebook and free sample is a link to a ten minute video interview with Joe, discussing the challenges and changes that have come to pass in the 25 years since original publication (Please check if your device is able to stream videos – Internet connection required).
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One of the greatest survival stories ever told, by the man who, by sheer determination, stole his life back from the Great Reaper.
Remarkable story of survival, of never giving up, of persevering in the midst of unyielding hardships. Wow. A gripping and well-written story about a man who has decided to live, no matter how poor the odds. It’s a gut-wrenching tale, and one that I’m sure has left a burden of reality on the story’s characters. Every once in a while we read about a journey filled with optimism and hope that ends up straining our thoughts as events turn out completely different from everyone’s expectations. This is such an odyssey. I truly hope the key characters are still friends.
This book was fantastic. Couldn’t put it down. It’s been out for decades but I just discovered it. Anyone who can survive a mountain ordeal like Joe Simpson and live to write about it in a way that puts you on that mountain with him deserves a 5-star.
An amazing and inspirational survival story!
There is no traveling without getting lost. There is no adventure without taking risks. There is no mountaineering without danger.
Until the early twentieth century, expeditions were mostly driven by the discovery of the last unreached regions of the planet, particularly the North and South Poles. This led to incredible sea adventures along the lines of Shackleton’s expeditions. After the entire planet was mapped and claimed, adventurers raced toward unclimbed mountaintops. Mountaineering adventures became the modern-day explorations: Annapurna, Everest, K2, and all the mountains and climbing routes that remained to be named and conquered. Many expeditions had their tragic moments, but very few were penned by those who had made it through their harrowing experiences. Joe Simpson is one such survivor, taking you on a journey of discovery far beyond the stunning mountains of the Peruvian Andes.
You will live every moment as if you were the one left for dead with broken bones and no way out of the bottom of that crevice. The physical pain will resonate in all your cells. You will fight your greatest fear, touch the void, and face your own mortality, discovering the phenomenal power of the human spirit within you. When you understand what it means to be alive, you will transform. More than a mountaineering book, Touching the Void is an epitaph to life. Joe Simpson died on that mountain, for he was reborn a new man. A gut-wrenching inspirational read not only for adventurers.
If you consider yourself something of an outdoors person, especially if you go rock climbing, you owe it to yourself to read this book.
“Two lifelong friends had just successfully climbed a 21,000 foot peak in the Peruvian Alps and Joe and his partner Simon had begun their descent of the tortuous north ridge when disaster struck. Simpson fell off the vertical face of an ice ledge , badly breaking his leg. At the end of a desperate struggle to rescue his friend, swinging at the end of their rope, in darkness and at the height of a raging storm, fate took a cruel twist when Joe blindly lowered his friend over a 3000 foot cliff. With his friend dangling helplessly and his snow seat collapsing beneath him, Joe was forced into the most desperate decision in mountaineering: he cut the rope just seconds before he would have been pulled to his own death.”
This is the introduction to this story on the flyleaf of the book and it drew me right in immediately. I will say no more. You should read it for yourself. A wonderful tale and true.