chapter 1 :
We start off the chapter in Joe simpson’s tent, he describes how once you are in there and it is night time it can feel like are anywhere, the French alps, Scotland or even the karakoram. He also talks about how he feels warm and secure when inside a tent. Joe simpson and his friends Richard and Simon at the foot of Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes. Simon and Joe are climbers, whereas Richard is tasked with the hard job of looking after the gear while Joe and Simon are out climbing. Joe met or found Richard in a hotel in Lima, halfway thorough a six month exploration of south America.
Joe and Simon take practice runs on smaller climbs, when on these Joe finds out that the two of them are well matched. There is some concern about the weather as there are clouds that are forming, in the alps this would usually result in some sort of blizzard. They end up agreeing that it is nothing because there have been no serious concerns so far. They then plan to climb Seria Norte but find out that it is too dangerous to climb. After returning form the climb Joe decides to join Richard to buy cheese and milk from the girls in the hut. The next day Joe and Simon head or prepare for their main objective, Suila Grande.
chapter 2 :
The chapter again starts off with Joe waking up. He has the “hot aches” and is in a lot of pain from the coldness. Simon starts ahead of him and manages to get 150 feet ahead by the time that he starts. When Joe starts he is scared but once he gets into it he actually finds that he is enjoying it and the ice is brilliant. After climbing the 2,000 feet icefield the two climbers find that they have to climb another Icefield, but this time worse. In this icefield there is bare rock sticking through the ice, the ice is of poorer quality and rocks start to fall down the face. At one point a four foot boulder drops down and almost hits Simon. The chapter ends when Joe and Simon find a place to sleep after having to climb in the darkness. Joe talks about one of the previous trips where he and Ian (a friend) had settled on a ledge four feet wide and long enough for both of them to lie down head-to-toe, it then collapsed, luckily both of them were tied up meaning that nobody fell to their death, although Ian did manage to smack his head on some rock and cutting it.
React!