Touching The Void

PLOT

In 1985, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, both experienced mountaineers, successfully ascended the previously unclimbed West Face of Siula Grande in Peru. After leaving the summit their descent by way of the North Ridge proves unexpectedly difficult in, at times, stormy weather conditions. Shortly after the pair leave the summit Yates falls through a cornice and plummets down the 4500 ft face they had just climbed but his fall is arrested by their climbing ropes. After a bivouac high on the peak, the pair continue their descent the following morning but then Simpson falls whilst climbing down an ice cliff on the ridge and, landing awkwardly, suffers a badly broken leg. The pair commence a self-rescue with Yates lowering Simpson with ropes down a steep, 3000 ft, snow and ice slope while the weather deteriorates into a fierce storm. The total length of rope the pair have is 300 ft so the lowering process has to be undertaken in a series of repeat manoeuvres. The pair had almost reached the relative safety of the glacier when Yates inadvertently lowers Simpson over the edge of a large cliff, leaving him suspended on the rope in mid-air. Yates arrests his partner's fall, but cannot see the predicament he is in, nor hear him over the howling wind.

Unable to pull Simpson back up the cliff and gradually losing traction in the loose snow, Yates realizes, after about an hour and a half, that he is gradually being pulled from his unbelayed stance and will eventually fall in excess of 150 feet to his almost certain death. Yates decides that the only option available to him to avoid being pulled from the cliff is to cut the rope connecting him with Simpson. After surviving a sub-zero and stormy night on the mountain Yates completed his descent to the surface of the glacier but cannot find his partner concluding that Simpson must have fallen to the large crevasse at the base of the cliff. He inspects the opening of the crevasse to the extent that he can without falling in himself and calls out to try and communicate with Simpson. Receiving no response Yates concludes Simpson must be dead and he returns to the base camp alone, where he stays to recuperate from his ordeal.

Simpson, however, survived the fall and is now trapped in the large crevasse. He manages to lower himself further into the dark abyss and finds an exit leading to the surface of the glacier. He then spends three days crawling and hopping back to base camp across the glacier and moraines, despite his broken leg, frostbite, and severe dehydration. Exhausted and delirious, Simpson reaches camp only a few hours before Yates and Richard Hawking (a non-climber who was the third member of the expedition) intend to leave and return to civilization.

The main docudrama ends when Simpson reaches base camp to find Yates and Hawking still in residence and his safety is then assured. The DVD contains two additional documentary features. What Happened Next documents what happened after Simpson reached base camp and how he was evacuated to hospital in Lima by his two companions and his subsequent return to England. Return to Siula Grande documents the making of the film in 2002 and the thoughts and reactions of Simpson, Yates and Hawking when they return to the scene of their epic adventure.

CAST

Brendan Mackey as Joe Simpson

Nicholas Aaron as Simon Yates

Ollie Ryall as Richard Hawking

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

based on Simpson's 1988 book of the same name.