Joe Simpson

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the ice hockey player of the same name, see Joe Simpson (ice hockey player) .

Joe Simpson with his book Fall Into Void , 2013

Joe Simpson (born August 13, 1960 in Kuala Lumpur ) is a British mountaineer, author and lecturer.

Fall into the void

Simpson became known through his book Touching the Void (English title: Sturz ins Leere , also filmed under the title Touching The Void or Sturz ins Leere ), for which he received the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature in 1988 and in 2003 was also made into a film.

In it, Simpson describes his painful return to base camp after crashing his right knee on the descent from Siula Grande ( Andes ). When his partner Simon Yates tried to rappel down the injured Simpson, the latter remained hanging freely on the rope under an overhang of ice. To save his own life, Yates cut the rope. Simpson fell into a crevasse and was believed dead by Yates and left behind. Joe Simpson survived the crash, however. He crossed the crevasse and, despite his broken leg and without a water supply, was able to save himself to the base camp, from where he was rescued by his mountain partners.

After his recovery, which required a total of six operations, Simpson began climbing again.

In later works Simpson describes other expeditions, such as the attempt by Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser a Eigernordwand -Besteigung, and the change in its attitude toward the extreme mountaineering because of the many lives that has cost this sport.

Inspections

• 1985 Siula Grande ( Andes ) west face by Joe Simpson and Simon Yates ( Fall into the Void film documentation of the ascent)

Remarks

• Simpson says in his book "Touching the Void" that during his days of struggle for survival, an inner voice sustained him and spurred him on to save his life, while at the same time a host of other, unimportant voices, memories and hallucinations went through his head - including the Boney M earwig Brown Girl in the Ring , whom he didn't like at all. He also reports that he successfully fought against the illusion that what was happening had a deeper meaning and that he could trust in a divine power.
• Simpson is mentioned in the song Ali in the Jungle by the British band The Hours .

Works

• Touching the Void (1988), ISBN 0-09-945229-4 ; German: Sturz ins Leere , (1994), ISBN 978-3-492-21247-2 , film version 2003
• The Water People (1992), (novel) ISBN 0-349-10349-6
• This Game of Ghosts (1993), ISBN 0-09-938011-0 ; English: Game of Spirits. Addiction to the Mountain (1999), ISBN 978-3-453-16154-2
• Dark Shadows Falling (1997), ISBN 0-09-975611-0
• Storms of Silence (1996), ISBN 0-09-957811-5
• The Beckoning Silence (2003), ISBN 0-09-942243-3 ; German: Under the spell of the giant. The long way to the Eiger (2003), ISBN 978-3-492-24439-8 ; It was made into a film in 2007 under the title Drama in the Eiger North Face

Web links

• Official website