This is an event which took place in Perú, in 1985. Two young British climbers: Joe Simpson and Simon Yates…

This is an event which took place in Perú, in 1985.

Two young British climbers: Joe Simpson and Simon Yates…

…decided to open a new route on the West face of the Siula Grande, one of the highest glaciars in the Peruvian Andes.

It is 6344 metres high, and the West face is an almost vertical wall of ice. What happened on that expedition has become a legend among climbers.

When climbers plan the ascent, they need to carry essential equipment with them:

CLOTHES: to keep their bodies warm and dry, such as special

underwear …

…gloves, a hat, two or three types of socks…

…climbing footwear and…

…a technical waterproof jacket.

SAFETY ELEMENTS: to avoid and/or treat injuries, such as…

…high protection sun glasses…

…a helmet and…

…a first aid kit, to mention a few of them.

TECHNICAL TOOLS: to be able to climb on rock or on ice, such

as…

…a harness…

…carabiners (which are like locks)…

…rope…

…piolets (which you use with your hands to hang from ice)…

…crampons (which you attach to your boots to fix your feet on icy surfaces) and a headlamp.

SURVIVAL ELEMENTS: to meet your basic needs…

…like a tent…

…a sleeping bag…

…a sleeping pad (which insulates you from cold)…

…a cooking set, fuel…

…a water bottle, food and a backpack to organize all items in

this way.

LIGHT

HEAVY

SLEEPING BAG

Climbing involves risk. The higher you go, the more

dangerous it gets. These are some of the problems

you may have at such altitude:

-mountain blindness, which affects people who do not wear the necessary glasses.

-ataxia, the inability to coordinate movement.-hypoxia, the inability to breathe well.

-hypothermia, body temperature goes down.-breaking a bone, when rescue is unthinkable.

-frostbite, an injury to extremities caused by extreme cold.-dehydration,

-and the Acute Mountain Sickness, which may start at any altitude above 2400 metres. It is especially dangerous, because it can cause death if it evolves (pulmonary or brain

edema)

In 1985, the protagonists of the story decided to carry out a two-day expedition to reach the summit of the Siula Grande.

They ice climbed to the top with difficulty, taking more time than expected because of bad weather conditions.

But the disaster took place on the descent. Joe Simpson slipped down and broke his knee. He depended on his friend Simon Yates to be able to survive. It was a horrible situation, since they had

no more food and no fuel to melt ice and drink water, which is essential to avoid fatigue.

Simon thought that the best thing to do was to tie Joe to a rope and make him descend slowly. They were desperate to get to the base

camp soon, so they continued the descent even if it was dark. As Simon was much higher up the mountain, he could not see…

…that he was lowering Joe off a cliff.

He needed a sign from Joe to go on. He waited for hours, but he did not see or hear Joe. He could only feel Joe´s weight at the other end of the rope. Simon thought that

Joe was dead, and the logical thing to do was cutting the rope and

survive.

Joe fell into a crevasse.

He was alive, but unable to walk. He tried to ascend by using the only piolet he had, but he failed, since he could not fix his right foot with the crampon.

Joe did not want to die there, so he designed a strategy to get out of the crevasse.

He slipped down, descending through galleries inside the glacier, until he discovered an opening which led him to the surface again.

When he finally came out, he had to crawl on rocks to get near the base camp, where he expected to meet Simon.

He got there six nights later, almost blind, dehydrated, exhausted, and with a shocking loss of weight.

Joe Simpson is still a climber; his experience and determination made him

famous. In 1988, he wrote a book narrating his

story called “Touching The Void”, which was turned into a movie (a documentary)

in 2003.