Mountain climbers relish a challenge. The more difficult the climb, the more virgin the path, the more the appeal to conquer.
The West Face of the Siula Grande mountains in the Peruvian Andes, however, was one that they avoided with a healthy dose of fear. The glaciers that adhered precariously to the jagged cliffs could change size quickly in the aftermath of a sudden snowstorm, could change shape, or just shift slightly from their previous position to an unstable one.
This ever-changing surface area made an already dangerous climb that much more difficult, so unpredictable, that experienced climbers calculated that scaling the Suila Grande from the West Face drastically increased the probability of sustaining a serious injury that could end a career.
Erwin Schneider and Arnold Awerzger, two Austrian climbers, were the first to conquer the Siula Grande in the ’70s, but from the slightly easier North Face. Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, two British climbers, were going to be the first to reach the peak from the West Face in 1985.
It took them 3 tortuous days to conquer the 6,344m Siula Grande, cold, exhausted, but triumphant. Now all they had to do was complete the descent. Due to the worsening conditions, near-zero visibility due to an unexpected storm, they intended to make a quick descent down the easier North Face.
But frostbitten, tired beyond words, the progress was agonizingly slow. Then, a third of the way down, disaster struck.
Simpson was taking the lead going down when a fall over an ice cliff shattered his leg in numerous places. Putting any weight on it never mind walking on it was impossible. In his mind, he had already calculated the odds of him making it down alive. They were not good.
When Yates caught up to him they both exchanged looks, recognizing the seriousness of the situation. There were two options. They could wait for rescue to find them, which on this brutal terrain was highly unlikely. Or option two was for Yates to forge ahead alone and get help, but they both knew that by the time he returned Simpson would be dead.
With the night and the storm closing in tightly around them, Yates decided to go for option three, not willing to leave his friend to die. His improvised solution was to secure Simpson in a snow seat and lower him slowly down the cliff face. They had 3,000 feet to go so it was going to be a mammoth challenge.
It was incredibly risky for both of them, the appalling conditions were worsening, and Simpson was bleeding internally. So time was not on their side.
They came up with a simple system where they would be tethered to each other by two 45m ropes knotted together. Cleverly, since there was no way to communicate, they used the joining knot as a signaling device. Yates would lower Simpson pretty much blind, only becoming aware that he could start to descend himself when the knot in the rope hit his friction device.
Simpson would be alerted at the same time and he would take his weight off the rope, allowing his partner to unclip himself, descend, re-anchor himself, then tug on the rope 3 times to start the lowering process again.
Using this system they were making excellent progress, with just under 91m to go, when something they had could not have unforeseen derailed all their plans, something that was going to force Yates to make a life or death decision.
In the zero visibility conditions, Simpson was accidentally lowered into a crevasse with sheer sides, with nowhere for him to take his weight off the rope, and no way to contact his partner. All he could do was hang suspended in mid-air, helpless, and hope that Yates would come up with a solution.
Above, Yates was stuck in a predicament. The knot had hit his friction device yet there was no slackening of the rope. He had no way of knowing what had happened. Had Simpson passed out from the pain or had something worse happened? All he could do was wait for Simpson to signal him somehow.
After an hour of holding on in the bitterly cold conditions, Yates had to admit that his partner must be dead. And he knew that if he continued to hold fast he was either going to be dragged over the edge or succumb to the cold. Coming to the realization that there was only one option left if he was to survive, he reached into his backpack, found what he was looking for – and cut the rope.
In doing so Yates had to come to terms with the fact that if Simpson wasn’t dead before, he was now.
Against all odds, Simpson survived the fall, crashing into the base of the crevasse. He was alive but wouldn’t stay that way for long if he didn’t make his own way out. There was no way rescuers were going to find him where he was.
Busted up, freezing, with little realistic hope of making it out alive, he nevertheless decided to give it his all. It took him four days of abseiling out of the crevasse, literally crawling 2.5km over glaciers, then a further 10.5km over mounds of debris left by the glaciers.
He almost gave up several times, but the worst moment was when he was just a 10-minute walk from the base camp. So close, and yet he almost gave up several times. His body was giving out, his will was virtually broken, he was delirious from lack of food and water, and the frequent spells of unconsciousness turned that short walk into 9 tortuous hours.
When he finally made it to the base camp there was no one there to greet him. They had all gone. They had left him. He was devastated, his spirit finally crushed.
Simon Yates was about to leave when a disgusting smell and a strange noise made him pause. As a conscientious climber he couldn’t leave the base camp in disarray for the next group of climbers so went to investigate. Following the stench led him straight to Simpson.
Entering the camp, Simpson had mistakenly crawled right through the latrine area, and it was that disgusting smell along with his feeble cries that had led Yates to find him.
Joe Simpson had lost 35% of his body weight and the ordeal of reaching the camp had left him close to death. Given a second chance to save his friend, Yates leaped into action. He administered what aid he could but realized that it was never going to be enough, Simpson was in such bad shape. So they trekked for two grueling days by mule, Yates trying to keep Simpson awake, then drove 23 hours by truck before reaching the nearest hospital.
Joe Simpson’s shattered leg underwent six operations, the injuries were so severe. Even after the final surgery, doctors informed him that he would have trouble walking for the rest of his life, so climbing was realistically an impossibility. He absorbed the news soberly, undertaking a painful two years of intense rehabilitation.
After that period of recovery, he and his partner, Simon Yates, were soon looking for the next mountain to climb.