Climber pleased with film version of 'Void'

By Craig Welch
Seattle Times staff reporter

	JEREMY SUTTON-HIBBERT Climbers Joe Simpson, left, and Simon Yates returned to South America for the filming of the documentary "Touching the Void."
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It started under the disconcerting glare of Hollywood's A-list. It ended with a trip to Peru, a bout of post-traumatic stress and a falling out with an old partner.

But "Touching the Void," the made-on-a-shoestring documentary/re-creation of one of mountaineering's most astounding survival stories, may ultimately set a new bar for climbing movies, and has already proved more satisfying to its author than he'd hoped it could.

"I was quite worried they were going to make a mess of it," British climber and author Joe Simpson said in an interview. "I was very pleased."

"Touching the Void" is the true story of the 1985 accident on South America's 22,000-foot Siula Grande that would come to define Simpson's life and career.

Simpson and partner Simon Yates had just summited when Simpson broke his leg above 20,000 feet. With no anchors and subzero temperatures, Yates lowered Simpson most of the way down the mountain until Simpson slid over a cliff and dangled, threatening to drag Yates with him. Presuming Simpson dead, Yates cut the rope to save himself, dropping Simpson into the heart of a glacier. Simpson spent half a week crawling down the mountain alone with a shattered leg, no food and no water.

Simpson, needless to say, survived and wrote a best-selling book about his experience — largely to deflect criticism from Yates, who was being pummeled in the climbing community for abandoning his partner. Simpson alone knew the Herculean efforts Yates had made to save him.

"The accident was a double-edged sword," Simpson said. "In real life, it destroyed what I wanted to do, which was climb at a really, really high level. But, inadvertently, I discovered I could write."

The book, which cuts to the messy heart of life-and-death decisions in the mountains, struck a chord with readers. Simpson was approached by Sally Field, who optioned the film with plans to put Tom Cruise in the lead. But Hollywood struggled with a tale about only two characters — none women — who spent most of the story separated. Given film's mountaineering track record — think the ridiculous "Vertical Limit," where climbers essentially exhibit superpowers — Simpson's expectations were low.

"I sort of knew it was going to be rubbish," he said Tuesday, when 600 people showed up at REI's Seattle flagship store for his presentation on the making of the film. He poked fun at his dirt-bag climbing roots. "But they were offering a huge amount of money."

No feature emerged, and when Simpson was approached about a documentary with director Kevin Macdonald, he was intrigued — especially since the survival tale at the story's heart might come off, in fiction, as wholly unbelievable.

Macdonald filmed actors and climbers in brutal, blowing conditions in the Andes and Alps, which gave the film authenticity. (When climbers are roped up on mountains with ice balls on their chins — that's not makeup.) Even the climbing gear, with the exception of a new ice screw, was bona fide mid-1980s.

"I wanted the general public to feel that this is what real climbing is," Simpson said.

Simpson and Yates each spent 20-plus hours telling their story in front of cameras and then returned to Siula Grande, despite Simpson's long-held superstition about going back. They doubled for the actors, working their way back on to the glacier that almost killed them both. But on the same rocks he clawed his way over in 1985, memories rushed back and Simpson suffered panic attacks and tears. Upon his return to Britain, he was diagnosed with PTSD.

And, while the film stays true to the book, and Yates comes off as heroic (if a bit clinical), it has apparently driven a wedge between the two climbers.

"Simon doesn't like the film and how it makes him look," Simpson said.

"It was our car crash, our reality," Simpson continued. "People think you go through this big experience and you're bonded for life. But we were just serious climbers who had a bad day at the office."

Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or cwelch@seattletimes.com

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