- After three and half days in subzero temperatures, climbers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates reached the top of 21,000- foot Siula Grande Mountain in Peru. They didn't realize it at the time, but their adventure was only just beginning.
- As they were coming down the mountain, Simpson fell and broke several bones in his right leg.
- Simpson's accident was a disaster. With no hope of rescue and no food or water, both men knew the odds were against them. If they didn't continue down the mountain fast, they would both die.
- they decided to tie themselves to each end of a 300-foot rope, and Yates lowered Simpson down the mountain in a slow, painful process.
- Thingswere going well until suddenly Yates realized his injured partner was hanging in mid-air over a crevasse. He tried to pull Simpson back up, couldn't.
- For over an hour, Yates held onto the rope. He was exhausted, but he knew that if he cut the rope; his partner would fall to his death.
- Then Yates started to slip towards the edge of the mountain. He was worried that if he continued to hold on, they would both die. He decided his only option was cut the rope and save himself.
- Yates took out his knife, cut the rope and fell back into the snow. Later, he looked for Simpson, but couldn't find him. convinced that his friend was dead, he continued down the mountain alone.
- But Simpson survived, and for three days he dragged himself for miles without food, water or painkillers.
- Finally, he made it back to the camp, just as the astonished Yates was about to leave. Simpson later wrote a best- selling book about his terrifying experience, which became a movie called Touching the Void.