Grappling With The Gray

Living on the Edge

On June 8, 1985, British climber Simon Yates was descending from the 21,000-foot summit of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes when his partner, Joe Simpson, fell and shattered his leg. As blizzard conditions engulfed them, Yates turned to the grueling work of getting his friend down the mountain alive.

For nine hours, Yates labored to lower Simpson by rope down the steep incline 300 feet at a time. Then, Simpson lost purchase and began sliding out of control, his ice axe unable to bite into the powdery snow.

Up above, Yates felt the rope jerk hard and knew that Simpson had gone over the edge. Yates still had control of the rope, literally holding Simpson’s life in his hands. But frostbitten and exhausted after the previous ...