You are putting yourself in high risk when you are participating in extreme sports. There are several reasons for why an athlete put themselves through those risk just for a sport. In Touching the Void, Joe Simpson and Simon are climbing a 21,000-foot mountain that no one has accomplished. “Looming over, with my stomach clenched, and a sharp sense of danger, I enjoyed the feeling” (Simpson 31). When Joe was almost at the top of the mountain he expresses his emotions that he feels being up there and being to accomplish his goals.
Hoping to climb a mountain that was never successfully done before triggered Joe and Simon to climb the West face of Siula Grande. Being in the cold, bizarre weather and not having enough energy due to the lack of food and water could have lead them to make mistakes and take a turn for the worst. Simon was put in a difficult situation when he couldn’t hold on to Joe’s weight and decided to cut the rope that tied him to Joe, for his survival. The type of climbing they did were alpine, where the climber ascends with minimal gear. It is crucial to have the skills to do such a difficult task.
I believe the climbers need to have good decision making and be able to read the mountain. There are many things one should know to climb, especially in snowy weather, because there can be hidden places that could lead to severe injury. It is very important to have sufficient equipment before you start the journey because it takes a couple days to get there and it will be difficult if you don’t have enough energy to make it back safely. A lesson I got from the book is to never give up. Joe had fallen down while climbing and shattered his knee.
He was unable to use his leg but luckily his partner, Simon, was willing to lower him down the mountain, which Joe was very grateful for. Then Joe had found himself in a situation over a crevasse and unable to tell Simon what was there. Simon had to make the choice to cut the rope to save his own life. But after falling hundreds of feet, Joe kept going even when he was in extreme pain. “The voice, and the watch, urged me into motion whenever the heat from the glacier halted me in a drowsy exhausted daze” (Simpson 144). The voices that he heard motivated him to keep going.
Even when he wanted to take a rest, he kept going because the voice told him to in order to make it on time. I think that he was becoming delusional due to the lack of nutrients that may have caused him to hear voices. His journey to crawl out of the glacier was astonishing. Joes willingness to keep going is what helped him survive and get back to base camp. Climbers want limited, light equipment’s and supplies which may be ruthless because they wont have enough to get them through their journey.
Another lesson I learned is that you should always be prepared for the worst. It was Simon who eventually pointed out to me where we had made our fatal mistake, and it happened before we left base camp. Gas” (Simpson 204). | believe that it was a huge mistake that Joe and Simon didn’t think it through of how much gas they should have taken. After evaluating the climb, Joe realized that the biggest mistake they made was not taking enough gas to stay hydrated. Being dehydrated may have caused them to make mistakes that could have ended their life. They were focused on trying to get as far as they could with the little time and wasn’t being as cautious.
There are many effects on the body not having enough nutrients to give your body enough energy to work properly. I think that is one of the main reason why they had many mishaps climbing on the mountain. “As if, in some strange way, the very nature of the game was controlling me, taking me towards a logical but frightening conclusion; it always unsettled me, this moment of reaching the summit, this sudden stillness and quiet after the storm, which gave me time to wonder at what I was doing and sense a niggling doubt that perhaps I was nexorably losing control – was l here purely for pleasure or was it egotism? ” (Simpson 53). This excerpt expresses Joes emotion during the climb. It seems as if he was reflecting upon himself, if climbing the mountain was actually worth it. Wondering if he was going too far because he could die doing the thing that he was uncertain of he could survive. Many climbers are attracted to climbing something more spectacular than the previous climb, which may have influence Joe and Simon to climb Siula Grande. I think that his outlook is changing and is affecting his performance.
Realizing that he is putting himself in this kind of danger is starting to get to him as the weather gets worse and facing incidents where he was close to dying. There are many effects of climbing a high altitude mountain. There are much more dangers in the climbing that Joe and Simon took than just regular mountain climbing, which may be another reason why they had many misfortunes during there ascend. “With increasing altitude, ambient air pressure and as a consequence partial pressure of oxygen decrease causing hypobaric hypoxia.
Hypoxia is responsible for the decrease in endurance performance of mountaineers when ascending to high altitude and plays a key role in the pathophysiology of high– altitude illnesses” (Sumann 8). Climbing in weather that is as bad as what Joe and Simon went through in Siula Grande could have affected their decision making. They were trying to climb as fast as they could because it was getting dark with the snow clouding their sight to see clearly but sometimes they just kept on going because they had to find the right place to sleep.
The lack of food and water affected their ability to climb the mountain and caused them to be more reckless. There are many controversies of Simon cutting the rope was ethical or not. There are people who believed that it was wrong of him too because it was wrong, especially the climbing community. Some believed that it was reasonable because it was a matter of survival. But I think what matter the most is what Joe felt. When Joe saw that the rope was cut, he was devastated but he wasn’t angry with Simons decision.
Simon felt horrible and beat himself up for cutting the rope. You saved my life you know. It must have been terrible for you that night. I don’t blame you. You had no choice. I understand that, and I understand why you thought I was dead. You did all that you could have done. Thanks for getting me down” (Simpson 192). Joe is understanding of his decision. He made it that far due to Simons help. Joe is grateful for all that Simon had done, given the situation. Simon thought that Joe was dead and that he couldn’t have survived that fall so he didn’t go back to look at his body.
Although, Simon could have gone back to check on Joe but he didn’t because he knew that he wouldn’t make it back regardless because he was dehydrated and needed to find water. I believe that Simon’s decision to cut the rope was reasonable. If Simon hadn’t cut the rope, he would have died by the impact of the fall. Although, Simon was dehydrated and may have not been clearly thinking but he had to for his survival. There was nothing else that he could have done. It is kind of wicked that he cut the rope to survive but it is better for one of them to survive than none of them.
I wouldn’t be able to move on knowing that cutting the rope killed my friend but he had the choice to be killed or survive and I would have chosen my own survival. Especially being in the condition that he was in, suffering from dehydration. They didn’t get much food and usually drank a cup of tea. Being in that state of mind could have clouded his judgements but he had to go back and find what he need to survive, water. In Touching the Void, we are told the tragic story of what happen to Joe Simpson and Simon Yates on their climb to West Face of Siula Grande.
Climbing in conditions in Siula Grande is very dangerous and they knew it. Knowing that there weren’t any previous successful ascend, they still choose to climb it. Thinking that they had everything they needed but sooner facing struggles that could end their lives due to the limited gas, which causes them to have lack of energy and the mishap of Joe falling into the crevasse. The lessons presented in this book informs us of things that we could use in our daily living. Joe’s survival is inspiring and shows us how working hard can take us where we want in life.
