Touching the Void...

[Jamesh Bond]

This may be an orphan, but has anyone read this book or seen the "movie?'
I just finished both (See title again).....

...The situation and outcome were miraculous, probably fools' luck?
You will find that the main characters, through their own admission, state that they were way out of their league...

Both were heavy smokers and forgot to carry compasses, yet set out to summit a high-end climb... and then-- SHTF!!!

The main point of this thread is to basically raise an eyebrow to the importance of staying within your limits...

Any quotes, stories, anecdotes, or bleethering...?

 

[jh205]

During my time sailing I've seen plenty of people go out into weather that was way beyond their capacity to handle. I remember about ten years ago I was sailing my catamaran about 600 meters off the beach. When I had gone out the wind was blowing about 20 knots steady and gusting to perhaps 30 or 35 knots. After about an hour the wind had blown up further, to at least 25 knots steady and gusts in the vicinity of 35 to 40 knots, possibly more. The swell had become enormous, such that when I was at the bottom of a trough my mast would hardly be seen above it. Though I was a fairly experienced sailor and my boat was performing superbly, I decided it had become too rough and decided to head in.

As I turn and begin sailing in, I look up and what do I see? Nothing less than my own father and brother launching a 12 foot dinghy into these conditions. Now, I always new that my mum and sister lacked common sense, but I thought my dad and brother had some. Apparently not. My dad knows how to sail but is very out of shape, whilst my brother is a complete novice. I know its only a matter of minutes before they'll tip the boat and likely be unable to right it again. I sail over to them and after getting as close as is safely possible shout "go back in, its too rough", but they can't hear for the howling wind. Within a minute they've tipped the boat and are clinging to its sides with no chance whatsoever of righting it and getting back in. At this point I'm sitting about 30meters downwind of them ready to do a rescue if I have to. Fortunately the club's rescue guys have seen them capsize and launch the rescue boat, and my dad and brother are pulled from the water and the dinghy towed back in. When I land my catamaran, my dad is on the beach throwing up from sheer physical exhaustion. In the end they were both OK, but they learned a serious lesson about syaying within your limits that day.

 

[CShepherd]

Awesome movie. Absolutely a story of great luck, perserverance, and strong will.

Admittedly they were a bit crazy for attempting the climb in the first place and even more so for continuing when the weather got tough but it is an awesome movie. I love how it goes from movie to interview.

Haven't read the book but I bet it's pretty good as well.

Sort of along those same lines I loved the book (and movie was pretty good) "The Perfect Storm." I had to read it for a Journalism class and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Both stories definitely make you think, and prepare.

Charlie

 

[Lawlor69]

I've read the book, not seen the movie but I hear it's good. The book is good, and Simpson, in my opinion, was incredibly, incredibly lucky to survive. That isn't to undervalue how incredibly tough he was to have survived the ordeal.

I should add I do have some reservations about the book (and by extension, the movie).

The main reservation is the clarity with which Simpson recounts the story. I mean, if memory serves (I read the book more than five years ago) he even admits in the book that he's often in so much pain and is so cold and hungry that he is delirious, and therefore--you assume--his brain functions, including his memory, would be shorting out.

I've never been in any binds half-way as tough as he was in, but I've been extremely tired for days (ie: after my wife had a baby, and in the first few weeks he hardly slept, and neither did we) and extremely physically exhausted (ie: running a full marathon) and in both cases I can honestly say that my ability to remember things--both in-the-moment details (where is the baby's bottle?) as well as long-term (when was I last on this website?) were shot.

Furthermore, I've done some detailed reading about the experience of men in major combat--the kinds of battles that go on for days, if not weeks--and researchers speaking to the veterans afterwards have determined that the veterans themselves are often poor witnesses to what they experienced.

It doesn't at first make sense, but it's true: They were just so scared and physically and emotionally and psychologically overwhelmed in the moment of extreme stress that, afterwards, they had to put their sensory impressions back together again. Inevitably, they would leave some things out, or put recollections out of sequence, invent anecdotes to make things make sense, etc.

So, what I guess I'm saying is that while the book can be taken to be accurate, it can only be believed up to a point. It is a shortcoming of any 'I was there' story involving a trip through hell.

Matt