A In 1985 two young mountaineers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, decided to climb the Siula Grande Mountain in Peru. After only a week, Joe and Simon had successfully conquered it. Standing on the summit, they felt proud of their achievement. However, the real adventure had not yet started B While they were coming down the mountain, Joe suddenly fell and broke his leg. After the accident, the two climbers tied themselves to each other with a rope and Simon helped Joe down the mountain. Joe, however, fell again but this time over the mountain edge. He was hanging in mid-air! Simon held on for as long as he could, but he knew he had a terrible decision to make: cut the rope and let his friend fall to his death or stay tied to it and die with him. With a shaking hand, Simon started cutting... C Afterwards, Simon continued down the mountain and arrived exhausted at the tent they had left in the valley. As soon as he got into his sleeping bag, he fell fast asleep. On his third night in the tent he thought he heard someone shouting his name. Was he having a nightmare? The shouting continued and he left the tent. Lying over some rocks, he found Joe's broken body. D Joe Simpson had been lucky and had fallen unexpectedly onto soft snow. After that, he had used his arms to pull himself down the mountain. He was freezing, starving and in need of urgent medical attention but he was alive! He'd had an amazing escape and he thanked his friend. Simon's decision to cut the rope had saved both their lives.