“Touching the Void" (2003) -- DVD available at Amazon.com -- In 1985, two British mountaineers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, embarked on a daring -arguably reckless in the extreme - attempt to climb the previously unconquered Peruvian mountain Siula Grande (21,000 fee). A mixture of overconfidence in their own abilities and underestimation of the climb's difficulties brought them to grief after the successful slog to the summit. What follows is an often harrowing account of their perilous descent. -- Based on Joe Simpson's gripping book, the film boasts glorious widescreen photography of Siula Grande and its notorious glacier. Actors take the place of the two climbers for close-ups, though Simpson did return to Peru in order to reenact parts of his dreadful crawl back down the ice. The story of Simpson's super-human fortitude has become legendary in climbing circles, and even for viewers uninterested in mountaineering, Touching the Void is an astonishing slice of real-life drama, magnificently retold. -- Mark Walker

said stoneycreeks 10 months 16 days ago

Hey Calhiker. I'm Noondueler. I got set up on webshots a few months ago and making up for lost time I put up a bunch of Sierra and Death Valley shots from years of peak bagging. We appear to have the same interest in peaks in these areas. I'll probably be heading for the high country in the next month or 2. You take some nice shots. Maybe we can do a peak or 2 together. Check me out at Noondueler and get in touch if you're interested.

said Noondueler 2007.03.21 at 13:39:11 PDT

where is this place please tell us so we can go and visit it it was awesome

said silentsigners 2007.01.29 at 09:18:42 PST

Anyhow, I am not entirely sure (it was a long time ago!), but I believe I took the notebook and brought it home. Then I think I gave it to my father, who was a member of the Sierra Club. My thinking was that this was a historic document, and I thought the Sierra Club should keep it. Maybe I was afraid it would get lost again, and it seemed like a real treasure to me. But I don't know what happened after that. I am sure that my father did in fact give it back to the Sierra Club, he was a very honest man (who, incidentally, kind of resembled Norman Clyde in many ways). So anyhow, my questions are these: is that the notebook I found so many years ago? How did you come across it? Where is it now? Thanks very much. If you like, you can e mail me about it at tm_doherty@hotmail.com. My name is Terry Doherty. Thanks very much.

said tmdoherty 2006.11.30 at 00:55:44 PST

Calhiker, I was just astonished to see one of your photos. It is a photo of a summit register that has Norman Clyde's name in it, with the date 1944. I believe that is the summit register for Mt. Barnard. Here is the link: http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1087585365025974737rUorBJ Now.... there is a reason I was so astonished to see that. I climbed Mt. Barnard many years ago, maybe 1973 or so, I really am not sure. I was pretty young at the time. I climbed it alone, I had been moving cross country through the area climbing peaks and such for a week or two. I came up from the west, I believe via Wright Lakes. I was there fairly early in the year, and I don't believe anybody had been through the area before me that season, judging from the fact that the footprints in the snow far below stopped not far east of the Muir Trail, and I did not see any more after that. When I got to the top, it was cold and pretty windy. I looked for the summit register unsuccessfully. I think there was a standard Sierra Club register there at that time, but maybe it was just a can, that was not unusual in those days. Anyhow, when I looked inside, there was no register book at all. So, I decided to eat my lunch in the sun and get out of the wind. I descended just a short way, maybe a few meters or so on the east side, and that put me out of the wind. I was eating my lunch there, when I glanced down past my feet into the rocks and snow, and I saw something.... I crawled down a short way, and there was a small book, a notebook. I opened it up, and was amazed and very happy to find that it was the summit register. I almost fell over when I opened up to the first page and saw that Norman Clyde had left it there, and made the first entry in the book! It had been there a long time.... I seem to recall that the date was sometime in 1923. But then when I saw your photo, that jogged my memory, and now I think that photo is a photo of that same notebook I found. To be continued.....(out of space here!)

said tmdoherty 2006.11.30 at 00:51:19 PST

your photos are fabulous!! I can't wait to come back and view more....So cool that your hiking abilities shares a world with us we might never see! Thankyou.... Sincerely April in Salem Oregon

said quirkyartist 2006.07.03 at 23:31:03 PDT

Glad I came across your albums. Appreciate seeing the country you have seen. A pleasure.

said stoneycreeks 2006.05.06 at 12:07:21 PDT