Siula Grande: Over the Edge | Keep Moving | 3

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0:08Simon Yates:A listener note. Against the Odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research. This episode contains explicit language.

0:31Simon Yates:Joe Simpson drives his axes into the ice and pulls himself up the slope, dragging his broken leg behind him. Above, a narrow beam of sunlight spills through a hole in the roof of the crevasse. He stares up at the light, willing himself to draw strength from it. It's close to 1 p.m. on June 9, 1985, six days since he and Simon left base camp, and two days since they stood on the summit. Yesterday, after Joe broke his leg, Simon spent hours lowering him by rope, 3 ,000 feet down the mountain. But near the bottom, Simon unknowingly lowered him over a sheer cliff. Joe hung in midair for nearly an hour, tied to Simon and unable to take his weight off.

1:18Simon Yates:Then he fell, plummeting into a deep crevasse. But somehow he landed on a narrow ledge and survived the 100-foot drop. After catching his breath, Joe realized. The rope had been cut. Simon was no longer attached. After a dreadful night alone in the dark and accepting no one would be coming to help him, Joe had no choice but to rappel down deeper into the crevasse. Amazingly, when he reached the bottom, he saw a way out. Now he's inching up a steep 45-degree slope toward the light at the top of the dome, about 130 feet high. The climb is agonizingly slow. What would normally take him 10 minutes with two good legs has already taken over two and a half hours.

2:08Simon Yates:Then he feels sunlight, warm on his face. He looks up. He's almost there, but the slope steepens sharply as he nears the top. He drives his axes in deeper and pulls with everything he has left. Finally, he pokes his head through the snow roof, like a gopher emerging from its burrow. He plants his axes in the snow and drags himself out of the crevasse. The sky is bright and clear. The mountains surrounding him are more beautiful than he's ever seen them. The world feels brand new, still and sacred. He lets out a small, wild laugh. He's out. He's alive. Then Joe turns back, and his heart sinks. There, hanging down on the right-hand side of the ice cliff, is the rope.

3:03Simon Yates:The other half of their line, the section that stayed with Simon. The sight confirms what Joe feared. Simon made it down. He saw the crevasse, and he left, believing Joe was dead. Joe turns his gaze forward again, down to the glacier 200 feet below, that stretches away into a wide, rocky valley, with the tents somewhere beyond. Familiar Dredd creeps back in. He's dehydrated. His leg is broken. His fingers are frostbitten. And there's still a long way to go. He grabs his axes and begins sliding down inch by inch. He figures he'll probably die out there. But at least now, he has a chance to confront death head-on, rather than wait for it to take him.

3:53Simon Yates:If he's going to die, he'll meet it halfway.

4:01This Is Actually Happening is a podcast that features extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them in a special six-part series called A New Kind of Being. This Is Actually Happening explores the powerful and unexpected ways artificial intelligence is changing human lives. Follow This Is Actually Happening wherever you get your podcasts. Does it bother you that the world is on fire? Do you also often find yourself choking on your own rage? Maybe you too perpetually feel like screaming bloody freaking murder into your own pillow. Well, hop in, rabble-razzer.

4:34We're going hunting for a manifesto. Listen to Dan Taberski's manifesto wherever you get your podcasts.

4:45Simon Yates:From Wondery, I'm Cassie DePeckel, And this is against the odds.

4:58Simon Yates:On June 7, 1985, two British climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, became the first people to summit the west face of Ciola Grande, a towering 21 ,000-foot peak in the Peruvian Andes. But on the way down, disaster struck. Joe fell and shattered his right knee. In a desperate attempt to save him, Simon began lowering him down the mountain, 300 feet at a time. But as darkness fell and a blizzard set in, Simon, unable to see, lowered him over the edge of a cliff. For nearly an hour, he fought to hold Joe's weight as he dangled in space. But in the end, Simon made the only choice he could to save himself.

5:42Simon Yates:He cut the rope and returned to base camp. Certain his friend had fallen into a crevasse and died. Yet somehow, Joe survived and hauled himself out. But with six more miles of brutal terrain ahead, escaping the crevasse was only the beginning of his fight to stay alive. This is Episode 3. Keep moving.

6:14Simon Yates:Simon Yates stumbles through the rock field in a daze of heat and thirst. The lack of food and water over the past 24 hours has taken its toll. His mouth is bone dry, and the lure of water is the only thing keeping him moving. He's aiming for a spot he remembers, about halfway back to base camp. where melting snow streamed over a granite boulder. He weaves through the endless rockfall, replaying everything that happened on the mountain. It feels like he's reliving a year of his life, not just six days. He doesn't feel guilt so much as a slow, deepening ache of loss and sorrow. Crossing the glacier had been harrowing.

6:57Simon Yates:He felt much more vulnerable alone, without a rope, without Joe. Every step could have been his last. But now that he's off the ice, he's fairly sure he's going to live. As he moves through the boulders, the smell of water hits him. He hears it too, trickling beneath the rocks. So close yet unreachable. Then finally, he spots it. The rounded boulder where he drank days earlier. A faint ribbon of water glistens down its flank. A surge of energy pushes him forward. But when he reaches it, the flow is barely a trickle. He digs a small hollow in the gravel at the base. It fills gradually. He sucks back a gritty mouthful, then another.

7:46Simon Yates:It's not enough to quench his thirst, but it's enough to keep him going. One more hour, maybe. It's a lonely place to rest. This boulder where he and Joe once sat. He doesn't linger. He sets off again toward the first turquoise lake. But as he walks, Dredd creeps in. He's about to see Richard, the new friend who's been watching their gear. How will he explain to Richard what happened? And then to everyone back home? He knows he made the right decision. That he has nothing to be ashamed of. But all he can think about is the disbelief. The judgment. The criticism he's bound to face. They won't understand.

8:30Simon Yates:He can already picture the doubt in their eyes. They'll think I could have tried harder. He can hardly believe it himself. They certainly won't. In the world of mountaineering, the bond between partners is sacred. Cutting the rope is unheard of. It feels like blasphemy. And Joe's parents? He can't even bear to imagine what they'll say. He considers inventing a simpler story. One that makes him look better. If he says they'd unroped and Joe fell into a crevasse while descending, who would question it? It happens all the time. Why tell them the truth? Why say he cut the rope? Why cause more anguish for himself and everyone else?

9:15Simon Yates:Simon reaches the second lake near base camp. As he walks up to the final rise, his mind is a battlefield. Rational arguments clashing against guilt and fear. What should I say? He doesn't want to lie, but the thought of telling the truth feels impossible. No, he tells himself. The whole truth would only bring more pain.

9:45Simon Yates:Richard Hawking walks slowly with his head down as he follows the path out of base camp. He's anxious. Simon and Joe were supposed to be back yesterday at the latest. A knot tightens in his stomach. They must be hurt. Maybe worse. He spent the past six days alone, trying to entertain himself in the empty camp. At first, he enjoyed the vastness of the place, the quiet, the beauty. But soon, the loneliness turned oppressive. He'd been looking forward to their return, to hearing epic stories. when they didn't come back and another full day passed. He knew something was wrong. He couldn't go back to Lima without trying to find out what happened.

10:31Simon Yates:He only met Simon and Joe a couple of weeks ago and doesn't even know their last names. So he packed a small bag and set out, hoping to find them. If he's being honest with himself, he thinks they're probably dead. They must have fallen. Maybe he'll spot their bodies on the glacier. As he climbs the trail, Richard looks up and suddenly stops. He sees a figure cresting the rise, coming toward him. He stares. The man is barely recognizable. Thin, sunburnt, filthy. But then their eyes meet. Richard can hardly believe it. Simon, I was so worried. I was on my way to look for you guys. Richard walks toward him, but as he gets closer, his relief begins to fade.

11:22Simon Yates:He sees Simon's face is hollow, exhausted. He looks like he's about to cry. Richard scans the trail behind him, but there's no one. Where's Joe? Simon doesn't answer. He just stands like he's searching for words. Is he dead? Simon nods. They walk back to camp together in silence. Richard doesn't want to pry. He can see Simon is in shock and needs time. Back at the tents, Richard hands Simon a chocolate bar and quietly gets to work boiling water. Simon drops onto his pack and just stares down at his frostbitten fingers. Eventually, Richard looks over and sees Simon watching him. They exchange a small, tired smile.

12:10Simon Yates:Then, gently, Richard speaks. Did Joe fall? Simon nods again. Then, at last, he speaks. Yes, he fell. There was nothing I could do. Richard doesn't ask anything else. He just nods, quietly, and pours Simon a cup of tea.

12:34Simon Yates:Joe props himself on his left side, keeping his shattered knee off the ice, and hauls himself forward with his axes. The glacier stretches ahead in frozen waves of hard-packed snow. As he crests the next ridge, he pauses to scan the surface for more tracks. It had been a relief when he first spotted Simon's footprints. The shadowy marks are the only thing helping him navigate this maze of deadly crevasses. He knows Simon would have chosen the safest path without a rope. All Joe has to do is follow. It's past 3 p.m., and he's not covering nearly as much ground as he'd hoped. He's moving at a snail's pace, stopping often to rest, massage his numb hands, and eat a little snow.

13:21Simon Yates:More to wet his mouth than hydrate. He wonders if Simon is already back at base camp. If Simon set out early this morning, as Joe believes, he should be arriving about now. Joe's thoughts begin to drift. He imagines people back home in Sheffield, where he lives, when he's not climbing in Chamonix. He pictures his favorite pub. Then he thinks of his mother, and hot tears sting his eyes. He wants to break down and sob. But then, a voice, cool, steady, almost separate from him, interrupts his stream of thoughts. Keep going. It's not a plea, it's a command. And he obeys, dragging himself forward to the next set of footprints.

14:09Simon Yates:After another hour, he's circled far enough around the glacier to escape the shadow of the mountain. The crevasse, the ice cliff, the towering west face, they're all behind him now, but the relief doesn't last. Afternoon clouds are rolling in, and the light is starting to fade. The voice grows more urgent. Hurry up! Joe digs in his axes and drags himself forward. Then the wind picks up, and panic surges through him. The footprints, his lifeline, are starting to disappear beneath the blowing snow. Quick! Faster! Before you lose the tracks, he He listens to the voice and keeps moving as fast as he can.

14:59Simon Yates:Simon sips his tea by the cooking area and begins to tell Richard everything. I was seconds away from being dragged off the mountain. He hadn't planned to, but the words are now spilling out on their own. How it happened. How he tried to help. How he had no other choice. Richard doesn't respond. He listens without judgment, just quiet understanding. Earlier, when they first got back to camp, Simon told him simply that Joe had fallen, that there was nothing he could do. That had been the plan, to keep it simple. But now, after a hot meal, his body has calmed down, and the truth is coming out. As he keeps talking, Simon realizes he's glad.

15:46Simon Yates:Sure, he could have spared himself some anguish by staying quiet. But the more he opens up, the more he understands. This story matters. The rescue in the storm. The rope-lowering system they built. How hard they fought. It wouldn't feel right just to say, Joe fell. Not after everything Joe endured. That would be a betrayal to his friend and to what they accomplished together. We made it almost all the way down. It was incredible what we did. Until... Simon's voice trails off. Richard looks at him with soft, sympathetic eyes. I figured something really bad must have happened. I'm just glad you're alright.

16:33Simon Yates:Simon exhales, flooded with relief and gratitude for Richard's understanding, and for the fact he hadn't come searching for them on the glacier in his running shoes. That would have been another disaster. After endless cups of tea, the light starts to fade and clouds roll in. Simon crawls into the tent he used to share with Joe and settles into his sleeping bag. In the dim light, he notices some of Joe's things still scattered near the back. He lays his head down and listens to the first drops of rain tapping gently on the nylon above. He closes his eyes, but the image of last night's storm is still with him.

17:15Simon Yates:He knows it must be snowing up there now, and he can picture it falling into the kvass at the bottom of the ice cliff, slowly burying Joe's body. Eventually, he drifts off, still picturing the place where he left his friend behind.

17:35Simon Yates:Joe drags himself on his side across the glacier as the snow swirls low over the surface. He's hurrying as fast as possible as the storm closes in, but already he can barely see more than a few yards ahead. He pops his head up and squints ahead, searching for Simon's fading footprints, his only guide through this maze of crevasses. He had been happily following the footprints. They made him feel less alone, as if Simon was right here with him. But now, the light is fading quickly. The snow is falling harder, and he's growing more panicked. He keeps crawling, moving on his side fast in short bursts, zigzagging, looping, trying to guess the right path forward.

18:23Simon Yates:All he has to go on is instinct and desperation. Soon it's dark, and all he wants to do is sleep. He lays down, defeated, and closes his eyes. But the wind slaps him awake, and the voice cuts in. Don't sleep here. If you do, you might not ever wake up. He forces himself to keep moving, inching forward blindly. Then suddenly, he hears a deep, low roar. louder than the wind, like an avalanche or a cornice breaking loose above. A sudden blast of ice fragments slams into him, sweeping over with tremendous force. He covers his face, but the impact knocks him forward, into the darkness. His knee explodes in pain as he rolls, then slides to a jarring stop.

19:17Simon Yates:For a moment, he just lies there, gasping for breath. When he turns and looks back, he sees a massive bank of snow looming behind him. That's when it registers how close he just came to being buried alive. But what nearly killed him might just save him. Gritting his teeth, he claws his way back up and starts carving a shallow cave into the packed snow. When it's done, he knocks off his crampons with the end of his axe and crawls inside the hole with his sleeping bag. The space is too cramped to stretch out in, but he doesn't care. He's out of the storm and safe for now. He's been craving sleep, but now that he's found shelter, he can't relax.

20:05Simon Yates:Adrenaline and fear still pulse through him. His need throbs with pain, and every time he closes his eyes, he feels like he's back in the crevasse again. So he lies there with his eyes open, like a child afraid of the dark until, finally, his eyelids surrender and he sinks into a heavy slumber.

20:34Hey, Dan Taberski here. I'm a podcast host, a journalist, and now with my newest project, the author of my own manifesto. Well, it's a manifesto about manifestos. My search for inspiration in a world that feels more infuriating, more out of its freaking mind with each passing hour. Manifestos are a call to action, an artful scream. They capture our anger and they try to do something with it. This is my attempt to take the manifesto back from mass shooters and nihilists and return it to its rightful place with the warriors, the visionaries, the regular folks with just the right amount of crazy.

21:09I compare notes with radicals, secessionists, internet trolls out for a laugh, and punk singers screaming their guts out, all trying to turn their anger into the world they want to see. Listen to Manifesto wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Manifesto early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.

21:38Simon Yates:Simon Yates walks to the edge of the lake and stares out at the sparkling turquoise water. It's a beautiful day. The mountains are spectacular, but he doesn't care. The view means nothing now. He hates this place for its cruelty, for what it made him do. It's morning on June 10th. It's hard to believe that just yesterday, around this time, he was stumbling across a glacier, still unsure if he'd make it back alive. Joe has been dead for 36 hours. but it feels like weeks. For the first time since the accident, he's no longer in survival mode, and the guilt is flooding back. He keeps telling himself he had no choice, that he did everything he could, but part of him doesn't believe it.

22:30Simon Yates:He might as well have put a gun to Joe's head and pulled the trigger. That's how it feels. His rational mind knows he didn't kill Joe, and yet he can't escape the feeling that he did. It was his hand on the knife that cut the rope, his decision that sent Joe plummeting to his death. He strips off his filthy clothes and wades into the freezing lake. The water bites at his skin, but he welcomes it. With numb, blackened fingers, he scrubs himself. His face, scalp, chest, legs, methodically almost aggressively. He shaves. He scrubs his climbing gear too. He's trying to wash it all away. The dirt. The mountain.

23:18Simon Yates:The decision. The grief. The guilt. His hands are shaking, but he keeps scrubbing. He needs time to recover. To regain his strength and get his mind back. He tells himself again, Joe is dead. I'm not. But that doesn't quiet the accusatory voices in his head. Not yet. He knows he needs to find some kind of peace within himself before he can face anyone else, their questions, and their judgment. Once he makes sense of it all, then maybe he'll be able to explain it. He puts on the clean clothes he brought with him and walks slowly back to camp. Today, he has one plan. Eat, drink, rest. And try, just try, to go easy on himself.

24:18Simon Yates:Joe Simpson wakes up screaming as light floods his eyes, dragging him out of a nightmare. For a moment, he thinks he's back in the crevasse. His heart's racing. Then it comes back to him. He's no longer on that ledge in the dark. He's on the glacier in the snow cave he dug last night. Relief washes over him. The dream felt too real. But even if he's not trapped anymore, he's still alone. Still miles from base camp. Still with a broken leg. He crawls out of the snow hole and scans the glacier in the bright light. No more footprints. Just blank white waves ahead. Is this how it ends? Crawling to my death?

25:05Simon Yates:He balances on his axes and hops onto his left foot for a better view. Something feels familiar. He straightens up, then sees it. The start of the rock field. Carefully, he makes his way forward until, at last, he's off the glacier and free of the deadly crevasses. He looks out at the endless boulders stretching into the distance. Maybe the glacier was the easy part. He's desperately thirsty. How many days has it been without food or water? Two days, three nights? He isn't that hungry. He still has reserves. But his tongue is thick and coated. His body's running on fumes. He wants to cry, but that would be a waste of energy.

25:53Simon Yates:Crawling isn't an option. Not here. Not on this terrain. He'll have to hop. And he knows he's going to fall. A lot. He empties his pack and ditches anything he doesn't need. Then he unrolls his yellow foam mat and wraps it tightly around his knee, wincing at the pain. He takes the straps from his crampons and clenches them around his upper thigh and calf. Then grabs two more straps from his bag and fastens them snug on either side of the joint. When he lifts his leg, the knee holds stiff. Good. He braces himself against a boulder, slings his bag over his shoulder, and starts hopping. He makes it a few steps and falls again and again.