Joe Simpson Takes Us into The Beckoning Silence

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By: Kraig Becker
Updated:
9

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I came across this story thanks to a post over at the Best Hike Blog, who in turned grabbed it from The Piton. I think I have all my sources covered. šŸ˜‰

Anyway, Joe Simpson of Touching The Void fame is back with a new film based upon his one of his other books entitled The Beckoning Silence. Joe lends his voice for narration duties this time out, as he tells the tale of a famous 1936 climb on The Eiger that has become part of mountaineering lore. On that climb, all four men were killed, the last, caught up in his own ropes, hanging upside down, just feet away from rescuers, who still couldnā€™t get to him in time.

Simpsonā€™s latest effort will air on TV in the U.K., but will hopefully get picked up to be aired here in the States eventually as well. In my estimation, Touching The Void may well be the greatest mountaineering film ever. Iā€™ll definitely be keeping an eye on this one.

Kraig Becker
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9 thoughts on ā€œJoe Simpson Takes Us into <i>The Beckoning Silence</i>ā€

  1. Touching the Void was fantastic. Is is too bad Krakhauerā€™s Into Thin Air couldnā€™t have been done in a similar fashion.

    As one of the most widely read mountaineering books ever, Into Thin Air garnered nothing more than the terrible made for TV movie treatment.

    Canā€™t wait for this adaption to be released. If it doesnā€™t air over here, hopefully I can find it using other means *cough*BitTorrent*cough*.

  3. Ha! I just blogged about this as well earlier this morning. I didnā€™t see the other posts, but since it was posted after the rest of the outdoor blogging gang did, I guess Iā€™m late to the gameā€¦ again. šŸ™‚

    You have better info than me though. I thought that Beckoning Silence was a diary of his own climb, but it sounds like itā€™s a narration of that 1936 climb. Thanks for the details junkie!

  4. Heā€™s probably mixed in some of his own thoughts on the Eiger. Iā€™m not sure if Joe has climbed The Eiger or not, but you can bet that if he has, he probably put his personal experiences into it as well.

  5. It is one of his better books and does have much of his own experience includedā€¦
    I enjoyed it greatly as he muses about the climbing life with all the risks, losses, and fulfillmentsā€¦
    DSD

  6. Thanks for the clarification DSD! I figured that he probably had climbed The Eiger at least as a reference point for the book, and that he would likely mix in his own experiences.

    I havenā€™t read this one, but I may have to pick it up and give it a go. Glad to hear it ranks amongst his best.

  7. there was a solution to the Nazis predicament.
    He should have pulled up the tail of the lower rope,passed it up through his jammed or another carbiner. Then tied it to the upper taught rope wth a rolling hitch.cut the taught rope between the two knots.He should have been able to do this having already shown he could manage a one handed climb to the top of his rope and abseil backā€¦..Voila!

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