Book Discussion: Touching the Void

Discussion on the book Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. A story of impossible survival.

P: Finished Touching the Void last night. All I can say is better him than me.
I can't believe he lost 49 pounds during that ordeal (1 stone is 14 pounds).
Its amazing that he even still has a leg, with how long it was broken, and
the crap it went through, not to mention a Peruvian hospital. Has your
brother ever had to take that Ricotol or whatever its called to improve circulation?

D: In the movie, the way they film the last part of him crossing the morraine
field and getting back to camp is pretty surreal. It's almost exactly as
you picture it in the book. He's completely delirious and losing his mind,
well past the brink of exhaustion.
I don't think Adam's ever needed that ricotol stuff. His altitude highpoint
is 20,700 though, I think Joe and Simon were much higher than that.

S: The part of that book that got to me the most actually, was when they were
talking about the Japanese climbers that fell right behind them. I think
growing up in a big city, and living an urban life, its hard for me to
imagine being isolated to the point that a broken leg could mean death. Part
of the isolation has a lot to do with communication. When your deep sea
diving and something happens, at least you have a radio. When you are in
space, at least you have a radio. I'm sure if he didn't have those voices
in his head, he would've stayed in that crevasse. What I don't understand
is, why didn't they have radios? If not between each other, at least with
Richard back at base camp?

D: I don't know what kind of technology existed in '85 that would have been
lightweight enough and reliable enough for them to have bothered taking it
with them up the mountain. With the terrain how it was, along with the
remoteness, I don't know if they could've had something that would've
reached back to richard. Heck, even those motorola walkie-talkie things now
that people have, those don't always work on ski mountains.
I think one of the most telling things was when he started lowering himself
further into the crevasse that he didn't bother to put a knot at the end of
the rope. He decides, "well, this is it. I'm not going to sit here & die.
I'm going to lower myself down. If I get to the end of the rope, I'm not
going to hang there & die, and I'm not going to climb back up this rope, so
we'll see what happens then."

P: Do climbers ever use smoke cannisters or flares?

D: I'm sure in some situations. That's probably a crapshoot though, you
can't even see some of those mountains sometimes due to the weather. Who
knows if there will be people who actually see something. When you're in a
mountain range it's not like you're on a big open plain with visibility for
miles. On a clear day, you should shoot up a flare gun and there could be
no one who ever sees it. Those people that do see it could be a 2-3 day
hike from where you are anyway. Nowadays, with GPS stuff, it's much easier
to find lost people as long as they're well prepared and people know what
their plans were.

At this time the fire alarm was triggered and the discussion came to an abrupt end. While descending the staircase, a brief mention of the Animatrix was discussed. Unfortunately, the conversation was one-sided as the clankering of heeled shoes hitting metal stairs drowned out and response.
P: Half way through the Animatrix. They are split up by visions
(episodes) and I've finished, I believe 5 of them. Great graphics.