The Beckoning Silence

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“I had to stand there and watch while the rest of my life was determined by the shaky adhesion of a few millimetres of fractured ice…” Marking the climax of his climbing career, Joe Simpson confronts his fears and mountaineering history in an assault on the North Face of the Eiger. Since his epic battle for survival in the Andes, he has lived a life filled with adventure but marred by the deaths of climbing friends in tragic accidents that challenge the exhilarating activity he has devoted himself to. The loss of a close friend prompts a momentous decision: to turn his back on the mountains he loves. Despite feeling most alive when at risk, he views this final climb on the Eiger as a cathartic end to his climbing journey. Through extreme experiences, including an avalanche in Bolivia, ice-climbing in the Alps and Colorado, and paragliding in Spain, Simpson reveals the inner truth of climbing. He explores the power of the mind and the frailties of the body through intensely lived accounts of exhilaration and despair. The focus of his narrative is the siren song of fear and his struggle to come to terms with it.