Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival

Simpson and Yates made much slower progress than anticipated. While leading across a plateau, Simpson fell several times into hidden shallow crevasses but hauled himself out. He realized that they had been walking along a cornice that could have collapsed at any moment.

When Simpson started descending a 20-foot ice cliff from the plateau, Yates was still above him and out of sight. A 150-foot rope connected them. Simpson fell, and when he hit the bottom of the cliff, his leg broke. The tibia of his lower leg was pushed up through the knee joint, distorting it. When he tried to stand, he almost fainted from pain. He cried as he realized that Yates would likely have to leave him. Simpson remembered a climber named Rob who was left to die after injuring himself.

When Yates appeared at the top of the cliff, Simpson was tempted to lie about his leg but admitted that it was broken. Yates rappelled down to reach him and did not comment on the injury but gave his friend painkillers. Realizing that his rope was jammed at the top of the cliff, Yates undertook a dangerous climb to retrieve it. Simpson feared they would both die.

The text then switches to Yates’s perspective of events. While walking across the ridge, he realized that Simpson had fallen when the rope jerked, pulling him forward. He waited until the rope went slack, indicating that Simpson had secured himself, before moving. When Simpson calmly announced that his leg was broken, Yates immediately believed that his friend would die. After climbing back up the cliff to unravel his rope, he saw Simpson slowly propelling himself along by using his axes and hopping precariously. Yates expected Simpson to fall, and it occurred to him that it would be better if he did because they might both die in the attempt to get him down the mountain. By the time he returned to the bottom of the cliff, Simpson had traveled only 100 feet.

The text returns to Simpson’s perspective. Yates overtook Simpson and created a trench in the snow for him to follow. Their destination was the col (the lowest part of the ridge) 600 feet below them. Yates sent Simpson down on a rope while he belayed from a bucket seat dug into the snow to anchor him. They tied their two 150-foot ropes together to hasten the descent, increasing the distance that Simpson could descend before Yates climbed down to him and repeated the same process. A belay plate controlled the speed of descent. However, after every 150 feet, Simpson had to balance his weight on one leg while Yates passed the knot through the belay plate. Simpson felt optimistic about making it down, but the weather worsened. It was four o’clock in the afternoon when they reached the col (about 3,000 feet from base camp). They agreed to continue.

Yates again lowered Simpson down on the rope. The descent was vertical, fast, and painful. Simpson’s broken leg kept catching, and he swore at Yates, who ignored his requests to go slower. Simpson sunk into a passive state, at the point of fainting. The descent became steeper, but he could not see where he was going due to white-out conditions. They continued the alternate rappelling process seven times, and though Yates’s frostbite was worsening, they felt that they had control of the situation. On the eighth rappel, Simpson gathered an alarming pace and realized that he was approaching a precipice. Unsuccessfully trying to stop his descent with an ice axe, he shouted out, but Yates could not hear him. Reaching the rope’s end, he dangled in space from his harness, six feet away from the cliff wall. The cliff edge was 15 feet above him, and below it was a drop of at least 100 feet. Simpson knew that Yates would not be able to pull him back up; he had to attempt to climb the rope. However, his fingers were numb, and he dropped an essential piece of climbing equipment.

Simpson descended further and realized that Yates was struggling to hold his weight from the bucket seat. Yates’s situation was untenable: He would either freeze or be dragged down the cliff by his climbing partner’s weight. Simpson felt strangely unemotional about his imminent death but then became furious and started screaming obscenities.

The narrative switches back to Yates’s perspective. Yates lowered Simpson on the rope. He pitied his friend, hearing his cries of pain during the descent, but knew it must be done quickly. Suddenly, a jolt on the rope almost pulled him out of his bucket seat. Bracing himself against the pressure, he realized that Simpson had fallen. Half an hour later, he was still supporting his friend’s full weight on the rope, but the belay seat he dug to secure himself was collapsing. After an hour, Yates was so cold that he struggled to grip the rope, and he felt it pulling him forward. Retrieving the penknife from his backpack, he cut the rope.

Yates hoped that Simpson had only a short fall to the glacier but feared the worst. He dug a snow hole for the night, concluding that he did the right thing but also thinking he should feel guilty. Severely dehydrated, he realized that he had not had water for 24 hours. (At high altitudes, consuming at least one and a half liters of water a day is essential.) The next morning, he decided to attempt to return to base camp but was sure he would die.