In ” Touching the Void”, Joe Simpson recounts his harrowing account of his ascent of the 21, 000ft Siula Grande peak in the Peruvian Andes with his climbing partner Simon Yates. After reaching the summit in June 1995, Yates staggered into Base Camp, exhausted & frost-bitten, with news that his friend Simpson was dead. What happened to Simpson, & how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Yates was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.