Touching the Void

Touching the Void is a docudrama directed by Kevin Macdonald about the perilous adventure of two British mountaineers who came close to death while achieving a feat no one had accomplished before. Simon Yates and Joe Simpson were the first to ascend the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. After an uneventful ascent, their descent of the north ridge proved almost fatal for Simpson.

After suffering a severe leg fracture in a fall from an ice cliff, Simpson is forced to rely on Yates to lower him down the mountain face as a violent storm rages around them. When Yates accidentally lowers Simpson over a cliff edge, he is forced to cut the rope or risk being pulled to his own death.

The film recounts Simpson’s seemingly impossible trek back to base camp after his climbing partner, believing him to be dead, leaves him stranded in an icy mountain crevasse.