Touching the Void

Simpson, Joe

ISBN 10: 0060160276 / ISBN 13: 9780060160272

Published by Harper & Row, New York, 1988

About this Item

Fine first American edition, first printing, in near fine dust jacket. The classic mountaineering story of 'cutting the rope' during a climb in South America.

Seller Inventory # 001057

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Touching the Void
• Publisher: Harper & Row, New York
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060160276
• ISBN 13: 9780060160272
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Weight: 460 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Mountaineering

About this title

Synopsis

The author relates his nearly fatal adventures mountaineering in the Andes, adventures that included a fall into a crevice, broken limbs, and return to safety

Review

Concise and yet packed with detail, Touching the Void, Joe Simpson's harrowing account of near-death in the Peruvian Andes, is a compact tour de force that wrestles with issues of bravery, friendship, physical endurance, the code of the mountains, and the will to live. Simpson dedicates the book to his climbing partner, Simon Yates, and to "those friends who have gone to the mountains and have not returned." What is it that compels certain individuals to willingly seek out the most inhospitable climate on earth? To risk their lives in an attempt to leave footprints where few or none have gone before? Simpson's vivid narrative of a dangerous climbing expedition will convince even the most die-hard couch potato that such pursuits fall within the realm of the sane. As the author struggles ever higher, readers learn of the mountain's awesome power, the beautiful--and sometimes deadly--sheets of blue glacial ice, and the accomplishment of a successful ascent. And then catastrophe: the second half of Touching the Void sees Simpson at his darkest moment. With a smashed, useless leg, he and his partner must struggle down a near-vertical face--and that's only the beginning of their troubles.