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Joe Simpson is one of those people who have always loved the mountains since childhood. He was born in Malaysia, but his roots and temperament were a true British. In 1984, he graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in English Literature and Philosophy. The beginning of adulthood, the young Joe decided to celebrate the fulfillment of a dream – climbing on the summit until here inaccessible Peruvian Andes called Siula-Grande . As a result, he broke his leg, fell into a crevbade, almost died of dehydration and experienced inhuman torture. Still, the guy survived to tell his story later.
Summary
Pioneers
Nobody has ever conquered the west wall of Seoul-Grande on 6300 meters high. The path was considered very dangerous, almost impossible. Joe Simpson had then covered all the Alps and wanted to write his name in the history of mountaineering. Well, in the end, he did, but not like the guy was waiting for him.
The conquest of every single mountain is a deadly activity. Joe, however, considered the mountains as the most beautiful place on the planet, but he was not so reckless. He found a partner – Simon Yeats, 22, who was also a fan of the mountains.
The boys had to climb the Siul-Grande with what is called the alpine style. That means you have to climb to the top as fast as possible. For this, the amount of equipment is minimized, climbers do not use rails, insurance is simplified, there are no intermediate camps, there is no has no help from anywhere.
The beginning of any climb is always a delight. This is why many of them can not be removed from the mountains by force. It was the same with Joe and Simon. The boys quickly overcame a glacier 300 meters high and visited the stony site.
It was even more complicated. The higher, the more you want to drink. In high altitude, you constantly suffer from dehydration, the body needs five liters of water a day. And with water in the mountains just the problem. Contrary to prejudices, the snow itself does not extinguish thirst, it must melt. The fire needs gas, and it takes about an hour to get a cup of snow from the snow. Thus, most of the rise time was occupied by the extraction of moisture.
The ascent on ice escapes. In addition, the heart works at the limit due to the same height and lack of oxygen. As if that was not enough, the temperature dropped in the last leg of the campaign and a snowstorm increased.
– The snow sticks to clothes, then freezes – and you have heavy armor. The last 100-150 meters was a nightmare. The loose snow collapsed, there was nothing to catch, you were working all over the body, just to keep from falling,
– Joe remembers
To pbad (more precisely, creep ) the last 50 meters, the guys took about six hours. They froze to bone, but still reached the summit! It seemed like there was more energy for enthusiasm. But no, it was an incredible feeling: as if you were at the top of the world, and all the worldly vanity was somewhere out there, far, far away.
And yet it was only the beginning. According to the climbers, about 80% of the problems with them occur just during the descent, rather than the ascent. And if the climb was so difficult, how could it go down? The easy walk and the truth did not work.
Inhuman pain and falling in the abyss
The way back has not been requested since the beginning. Already in half an hour the guys got lost: the mountain was covered by a cloud, the visibility decreased to zero. Then they climbed on a snow canopy, which fell under the weight of the climbers. Fortunately, the height of the next ledge was small. The situation was complicated by the fact that at night, Joe and Simon were running out of gas, which meant that there was nothing left to melt the water. It was necessary to go down as quickly as possible.
The next morning it was sunny and calm. It seemed like the worst part of the descent behind, now everything will go as it should. The climbers tied each other with a rope with rifles and immediately began to descend the steep wall. At one point, Joe felt that the ice ax in his right hand was not penetrating enough into the icy surface. Only he swayed to drive him deeper into the ice, as an ice ax in his left hand slipped, and the guy flew down.
A dry crackle was heard, the body was pierced with a monstrous pain. Joe flew from a dozen meters and landed unsuccessfully – the tibia fractured the knee and entered the hip. Fracture! In such conditions, it meant certain death. But beside him there was Simon – he had to help!
Mate came down after him, in his eyes a mixture of shock, hopelessness and horror was read. He gave Joe a strong anesthetic, but it was clear to both that it was impossible to descend together from a height of five kilometers. Run and call for help? Who, if the area is deserted? And no rescue team will arrive here.
The guys had two 50-meter strings. Simon tied them up, tied Joe up and started to lower him. He found a ledge, tore a hole in the snow to hold, and as soon as possible, he dropped a friend's rope rope. So they overcame several rather flat spans. However, during one of the descents, the sloping surface is suddenly terminated by a steep slope, making it a cliff. Joe had no time to scream to warn his partner because he was already hanging over the precipice.
A large ice crack opened below. Saying something to Simon was not possible because of the roar of the wind. So Joe stayed suspended above the abyss as his partner struggled to hold the rope, not knowing what was happening behind the precipice.
Simon's arms and legs were numb, and he had no idea what was happening to Joe. Maybe he's already dead and that he's keeping the body dead? It was unreal to lift it. Joe himself, at the same time, could do nothing, just hanging on a rope and waiting for death, if not falling, then frostbite.
After an hour and a half of uncertainty, Simon began to move toward the abyss. His hands were numb, he could not hold the rope. There was nothing left – the guy pulled out a knife and cut off the "umbilical cord" that connected him to a friend somewhere on the other side of the universe.
Horror and Darkness
Joe was unconscious at the time. He woke up from the impact in complete darkness. The climber was lucky: he flew about 15 meters, fell straight into the crevbade, landed on a gentle slope, moved on it for about 50 meters and stopped.
He lit the flashlight. For the crevice was too high – there is nothing to think about getting there. The guy turned to his right side and could not grope to find a ray of light from the bottom. The mountaineer was on a small ledge and could not do anything. A broken leg limited movement and there was nowhere to go. Climb the pure wall? To risk and fall further into the abyss?
After looking around, Simpson was sure his situation was hopeless. He turned off the flashlight, but immediately horrified. There is total darkness, a crackle of ice and a strange roar of the wind. It seemed like the cave was filled with awful fantastic creatures who only dreamed of eating you
– I kept telling myself that under no circumstances should one lose one's self-control. I realized that if I lose my temper, I lose control, and everything will be right. But it did not help. I started screaming, swearing, curse myself, Simon and circumstances. I sobbed and screamed. I never thought that I would reach such an animal state.
Joe is finally asleep. He woke up in the morning. From above, through the breach, the sun was shining with a soft ray, but despair did not go away. The unfortunate man again called Simon, not knowing that he had pbaded a few hours ago, he looked into the crevbade and called his friend, eventually deciding that he was dead, s'. he did not answer.
Joe weighed all the chances. decided to go down. He tied the rest of the chopped rope, tied the other end to the ice ax, which he dug into the ice, and began to descend. And if only emptiness was below? Well, then you can break with a clear conscience – death will be fast.
Joe was lucky: the length of the rope just enough to go down to 25 meters, all the way down. The guy crawled cautiously on his belly, then he heard an accident. This was not the bottom of the throat, but a layer of snow with an ice-shaped base, and underneath – a void.
– But I crawled. With caution, as in the eggshell, because in advance saw the light break the snow. I crawled to the stone steps, along which I had to go back, plunged the ice ax into the wall and began to climb up again. I tried to climb in order to load a healthy left leg, but each time I walked on the broken right. I felt the broken bones inside, the pain was inhuman, every step darkened in my eyes.
And yet, Joe came to the vertical slot, shook the snowy "coat" and set off on a wonderful sunny day. For a long time, the guy did nothing, he lay on the snow and laughed. However, it was not the end of the torment, many problems previously expected.
Five thousand fractures and Boney M.
Yes, Joe Simpson came out of the gorges, but stayed miles on impbadable sites. Despair gripped the boy again and he realized that he could not think of the ultimate goal. Instead, the climber came up with some sort of game, presenting intermediate tasks like "crawling for 20 minutes in-on-it until the snowdrift." I managed to do it in 18 minutes – I felt unbelievable happiness, I was late for a minute – I was pissed off to tears.
So Joe crawled all day. Sometimes he fell into a kind of labyrinth with gills that had to be circumvented, sometimes he had to go back and look for another path. Finally, the exhausted and dehydrated guy climbed onto the glacier and climbed over the rocky cliffs.
Everything, it was impossible to crawl further: stones too sharp. Improvised materials have come to build something like a tire, which has somehow proven to strengthen the damaged leg. Joe jumped on his left leg, trying to keep his good weight. It turned out badly. At each "step" he fell, and each time it seemed to him that his leg was breaking again.
Wow, but Joe was coming. Probably, first of all because of stubbornness and willpower. He's always set a mini-goal – "dokivlyat to this stone in 15 minutes." No discounts and sympathy – only willpower, stubbornness and devouring pain.
In such an exhausting rhythm, a whole day has pbaded. And then the climber sank on the rocks of helplessness. He was still thirsty. It was especially painful to hear underfoot, somewhere deep in the rock, the water of the murmuring glacier. This whisper made me mad.
– How good it was to lie without moving and do nothing! I did not have the strength, and I was used to the idea that I would die. Creep further seemed crazy. Why, if still the end? And then, without a trace, I was seized by loneliness, the feeling of being abandoned. And I crawled. Not because I wanted to be saved, but because I wanted someone to be there when I died.
Joe crawled. There was still no trace of people, but he noticed a dirty little net. But it was not at all important – the guy pressed his lips to the water and drank a liter for a liter.
– I was fed, I gained strength with every sip. Then I got wet, and I even liked: my legs were hot … Slowly, but surely I was degrading. Nothing is gone, shame is gone. I was no one. An unusual feeling.
Then Jo saw Simon's footsteps – it was close to the camp! But it was easy for a healthy person to get there, and not a cripple climber on the verge of losing consciousness. Simpson stopped distinguishing the reality of delirium, in addition to all at one point in the head played the unloved Joe's song of the band Boney M. – Brown Girl in the Ring. The annoying melody did not lag behind, played in a circle. "Why the hell am I dying under Boney M.?!? ;; – Joe thought and extinguished.
– When consciousness came back, I realized that I was lying on the rocks but it seemed to me that I went back to the glacier, so I was sure to have been beaten at the supermarket.And then a sharp smell came into my nose, which, l & rsquo; Ammonia, brought me back to life.
In the night, unconscious, Joe went to the restroom next to the camp, which they had broken up with Simon a hundred thousand years ago. Simpson shouted the name of a friend, no one answered.At that time, according to Joe, he felt that he had lost the most important thing – himself. stopped screaming Simon was in place He woke up again and ran to shouting.
For almost a week of his infernal journey, Joe Simpson lost a third of the weight and he it took him two years to restore health. Joe, as it almost always happens in such cases, has not given up on climbing. In addition, he began to write books. Today the man is 58 years old, and for his age he looks cheerful
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