Touching the Void

Touching the Void is an incredible story of survival in the face of death.  This part documentary, part dramatic reenactment follows Joe Simpson and Simon Yates as they climb the previously unclimbed west face of Siula Grande.  The ascent goes well, but, as Joe states: "80% of accidents occur on the way down."

Release Year: 2003
Rating: R
Length: 106m

For more information, view its pages at the Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes or purchase it from Amazon.

• Confidence: at the beginning of the movie, they believed they would be the first ones to do it because they were better than the previous climbers; loss of confidence following the injury (felt "doomed" and "psychologically beaten")
• Goal Setting: after injury, Joe repeatedly makes time-based goals for motivation as he crawls across the top of a glacier to get back to camp; occurs about two-thirds of the way into the movie
• Injury: shortly into the descent, Joe falls and breaks his leg, rendering him crippled the rest of the climb, about a half-hour into the movie
• Intrinsic Motivation: at the very beginning, Joe and Simon talk about how much they love climbing
• Self-Talk: Joe and Simon discuss their thoughts throughout the entire documentary
• Teamwork: in their style of climbing, were tied to each other, which requires great trust; after injury, Simon attempts to lower Joe down the mountain one rope length at a time