jancology.com

This is the amazing story Joe Simpson surviving in the Andes. This book is one of the mountaineering classics. After reaching the summit of the Siula Grande (6344 meters) with Simon Yates, Joe falls down and breaks his leg. Simon Yates does not leave him on the mountain and they try to get down. Simon decides that they both will go down and he ties Joe on a rope and let him go down. After several ascendings on the rope the second disaster happens and Joe falls in a glacier gap. After 4 days on the mountain Simon is not strong enough to get Joe up and he cannot hold it much longer. He can choose to fall together with Joe in the gap or to cut the rope. He decides to do the last thing…

The dutch title of the book is in my opinion much better. Its called “Over the top” and seems to refer to the glacier gap but also to the mind going crazy. The thing what struck me was that Joe didn’t blame Simon at all about what he did. Although I can imagine it, it’s also difficult to imagine on the other hand.

The bigest problem of the book is visualizing where they are on the mountain. In the front of the book is a little black and white drawing of the mountain but its not clear enough for me. This book was definately fun to read and takes you only a few days to finish it.