Joe Simpson Touching The Void

Touching the void by Joe Simpson is a vivid, intense and powerful story of a horrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. Two experienced climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, set out to conquer the mountain Siula Grande. They do indeed achieve their aim, but disaster strikes on the way down and Simon has to make an impossible decision – should he cut the rope holding Joe, thereby saving his own life, or should he stay attached, leading to certain death for both of them? They face an impossible journey, where their survival instinct and complete courage, prevail the human spirit over the power of mother nature’s battle.
Alpine Style is referring to a specific style of mountain climbing which involves in a combination of snow, ice, and rock

climbing. Generally, the climbers carry a single load of their equipment between camps pushing up to the summit. The advantage is spending less time on route, thereby reducing the dangers of avalanches and blizzards. The problems encountered while using Alpine Style is being trapped at a high altitude due to storms and oxygen not being used.
Climbing at a high altitude has many effects on one.

Although a person’s tolerance to hypoxia (lack of oxygen) varies. The more serious stage is high-altitude cerebral edema, also known as HACE, brain swelling that is potentially fatal. Which is “The lack of oxygen can directly damage brain cells. In addition, the walls of blood capillaries begin to leak at high altitudes, and the leaked fluid can cause dangerous swelling, pressing the brain outward against the rigid skull. Sometimes the optic nerves swell so badly they bulge into the back of the eye, degrading vision and causing retinal hemorrhages. Meanwhile blood, concentrated from dehydration and thickened by increased numbers of red blood cells, clots more easily. This clotting, along with the hemorrhage from the thinned capillaries, can cause a stroke. A climber with HACE may experience amnesia, confusion, delusions, emotional disturbance, personality changes and loss of consciousness.” (Fields). Joe stated there was two minds within him arguing. The voice was commanding and always right. He had to get to a glacier and the voice told how to go about it. This how you know Joe was experienced delusions from the lack of food, water, oxygen, and suffering from a broken leg and betrayal from

Simon.
The novel as a whole demonstrates survival, because it’s all about a man who had the extraordinary ability of human nature to survive, physically and mentally. When Joe was in the crevasse, he was trying to find a way out but he couldn’t. He stated, “There was no going back now, yet inside I was screaming to stop.” This shows that even if he didn’t want to, Joe would do anything he possibly can to survive. Also, the word “screaming” astonishing, strong word and really shows what a bad situation Joe was in and how close he was to giving up. Later, however, Joe found the beaming sunlight from a small hole in the roof in the crevasse. He knew he would reach the top: “I was going to reach that sunbeam. I knew it then with absolute certainty.” Thus, Joe knows the only way he’s going to survive is if he climbs up a practically deadly route, and he’s prepared to do that if it means there’s a small chance he’ll live.
The power of mother nature is personified as if the mountains were a living killer who had waited for them to come before destroying them.

Simon says, "The cruelty of it all sickened me. If felt as if there were something deliberate about it, something preordained by a bored and evil force." This would suggest that the mountain is playing games with them and that it is getting bored with their survival and is taking the game to the next dangerous level. In its power, as soon as Joe and Simon start to make progress the mountain acts to betray their hopes of escaping. It seems the difficult actions they’re going through makes them think there is evil out to get them. Being out there for so long, it is messing with their heads. The wilderness doesn't want to hurt no one, they believe in doing because they’re stuck out there and there isn't anything they can do. In contrast to his behavior, Simon stated, "It was as if the mountains were holding their breath, waiting for another death. Joe had died. The silence had said so; but must they take me as well?" This allowed Simon’s mind to be heard clearly, and his feelings of loneliness and guilt to roam freely. The mountain’s silence convinced him that Joe was dead. Furthermore, the way he speaks suggest he does not have much self-esteem, which makes sense given the position he was

in.
Yates faced intense criticism for his actions and is often referred to as “the man that cut the rope.” In the eyes of many people, the cutting of the rope was unforgivable. Some would argue that there was no decision to be made. Others would say it was simply a matter of survival. If Yates had known that Simpson was dead his actions would have been vindicated, but as he did not know this, he violated the ethics of rope climbing. In a certain truth, what Yates did, nevertheless of how it turned out, appears to violate the golden rule, cutting the rope would be equivalent to killing one’s partner. Strangely enough, both Simpson and Yates maintain that they did the right and ethical thing.

Both Joe and Simon dealt with their impossible journey, which they will never forget. Not only do they overcome the obstacle of surviving their climb and the power of mother nature, but also learned when being in a difficult situation with someone it may not go well for one of them.