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JOE SIMPSON
MOUNTAIN CLIMBER AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Climber Joe Simpson, author of the bestselling Touching the Void, recounts how his mountain dreams became shadowed by the deaths of friends and heroes, and hampered by the weight of probability that his own life would end in the same way. The result is a valedictory attempt on the North Face of the Eiger, a summation of his lifelong enchantment with climbing, and the parlaying of rock-solid risk with intangible rewards. It was a final adventure that would itself be touched by tragedy.
Simpson has established himself as the leading mountaineering writer of his time, and The Beckoning Silence is a bold reassertion of that status. Always strong on the personal meaning of the challenge, here he is superb on the bubbling fear that forms such a critical element of the climber’s kit; the minutiae of circumstance that seemingly separate the survivors and the dead; and the crisis that envelopes a climbing partnership on the mountainside, at the instant extreme pressure disturbs the balance of shared ambition and ability.
Since his epic battle for survival in the Andes, recounted in the bestselling Touching the Void, Joe Simpson has endured several further brushes with death and has suffered the loss of many climbing friends in accidents which call into question the exhilarating, death-defying activity to which he has devoted his whole life. Never more alive than when most at risk, he has come to see an attempt on the Eiger, with its hooded, mile-high North Face, as the culmination of his climbing career. In a narrative which takes the reader through extreme experiences from an avalanche in South America, ice-climbing in the Alps and Colorado and paragliding in Spain – before his final confrontation with the Eiger and two more deaths – Simpson reveals the inner truth of climbing, exploring both the power of the mind and the frailties of the body.
Joe has developed a reputation on the speaking circuit, which is second to none. Having spoken to a wide variety of audiences of various nationalities, Joe has exceeded all expectations. His presentation is supported by an “all-action” introductory video and stunning photography.
