People of Endurance

This afternoon I watched a documentary called "Touching The Void". The documentary was based on the true story of two men Joe and Simon who set out to climb the 21,000 foot ice face of the "Siula Grande"in the Peruvian Andes. This was a story of endurance for as both men set out on their expedition they were able to accomplish their ascent to this peak but peril was to befall them on their return. As Joe descended the icy mountain, his gripped slipped sending him down onto his leg breaking his leg and tendon to the point of severe damage. His climbing partner, Simon soon reached him only to find that with the rugged and perilous conditions that a man with a broken leg was to be a hassle and a further obstacle to getting off the mountain safely. To deal with this situation, both men decided to use a rope between them and Simon would lower Joe further down the mountain, in the hope of returning to the base camp. What Simon was not aware of was that although Joe was further down the mountain, communication was becoming more and more difficult. As Joe descended lower and lower, he eventually overhung an ice pillar and below him was a deep bottomless hole. Without Simon knowing what was going on and the conditions worsening, Simon had no choice but to eventually cut Joe from the rope, sending Joe into the bottomless pit while Simon dealt with the ice, snow and coldness around him. Joe who was now in the hole, had no choice and with defeat and the sense of no hope encroaching on his psyche, he thought that climbing up out of the crevasse impossible. Despite the pain and sense of hopeless, Joe had no option but to eventually climb lower into the crevasse to try and find a way out. Meanwhile, Simon had given Joe up for dead and realised he needed to return to bass camp. After a long and difficult journey or finding their entry footprints which guided them through the glacial maze. Both Simon and the other man at base camp believed Joe was dead. They burned his clothes and started to return to the base of the mountain. For Joe, he encountered the biggest obstacle. Not only did he eventually find a way out of the crevasse and cheating death in the process, he had to navigate over the glacier which started to be snowed upon and the footprints he used as a guide from Simon upon his return had all but disappeared. Furthermore, his damage leg caused him pain and despite eventually getting off the ice covered glacier, he had to endure rocks and precarious conditions. He navigated further down the slope and despite the excessive pain from his leg, Joe started to see death as something imminent. He hallucinated, was in and out of consciousness and his strong willed prevailed. He was near the camp and fortunately Simon and the other man who I cannot remember his name as I mentioned before was at the base camp. They couldn't but believe their eyes that Simon had made it. It is a truly amazing story and one that makes you wonder about human endurance. A similar story is that of Stuart Diver. He also beat all odds to survive the test of time and to cheat death. Can you imagine being entombed in a collapsed building with the cold ice and snow around you and your wife next to eventually die in your presence and knowing there was nothing you can do? Stuart Diver and his story is also unique and there are probably many more stories out there of the test of people and their endurance.