Siula Grande

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Among the world's idols of mountaineering, a little apart from other iconic mountains, stands a peak that has become famous not so much for its expressive forms or the complexity of its routes.

Siula Grande, Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru

Siula Grande, the key peak of the Huayhuash mountain system in Peru, for all its exceptional merits, became known to the climbing world thanks to the eerie story that happened on its slope in 1985, during the first ascent of the route along the Western Face by two climbers from Great Britain - Joe Simpson and Simon Yates.

Siula Grande

Main summit altitude: 6344 m
Location: 10°17'39.08"S, 76°53'30.51"W
Difficulty: Hard (ED)
First ascent: July 28, 1936, North Ridge, Austrian duo Arnold Awerzger and Erwin Schneider
Elevation gain/distance: 1200 m / 6.2 km from moraine camp

The story that made Siula Grande famous throughout the world took place in August 1985.

Cover of Joe Simpson's book 'Touching the Void'

This accident, which almost ended tragically (in this case, we would have had an ordinary mountaineering accident with two victims), nevertheless, miraculously had happy end. Three years later (1988), Joe Simpson wrote a book about the circumstances of this adventure, which became a bestseller and was even filmed in 2003 in the format of the pseudo documentary movie “Touching the Void.”

If you haven't seen this movie yet, it's definitely worth watching.

Summit of Siula Grande

Nevertheless, I cannot resist and will tell you about those events that were depicted in artistic form in the movie - even with an attempt to give a moral interpretation of what happened. The movie Touching the Void, by the way, was filmed quite close to the real conditions of climbing Siula Grande.

So, in the Peruvian winter (August) of 1985, a team of two climbers from Britain - Joe Simpson and Simon Yates - did a successful first ascent of the West Face of Siula Grande in Peru.

Climbing Siula Grande

The ascent took place in difficult weather conditions, which, together with the objective complexity of the route, led to serious exhaustion of the climbers. Having reached the summit in 14 hours after setting out on the route, they decided to begin their descent immediately. However, for the descent they chose not the same route they already climbed, but the classic Siula Grande route along the North Ridge, which was unknown to them.

North ridge and summit of Siula Grande

Here I must make a comment. Descent along a route different from the ascent line is always dangerous and leads to unpleasant surprises. That can only be considered if this route is well known. Otherwise, such a tactical decision is a prerequisite for an accident.

Climbing the West Face of Siula Grande

This is what happened in the case of the British climbers. Problems began immediately after starting the descent, when Simpson collapsed a cornice and fell 20 meters towards the North Face. Fortunately, he was saved by a rope secured to the ridge.

The climbers spent too much time getting out of the face after the fall and continuing their descent - bad weather was approaching and daylight was running out. Having a basic set of equipment for a bivouac and food, the climbers decided to spend the night on the ridge, at an altitude of 6100 m.

Modulation of the topography of Siula Grande using Google Earth

Obviously, spending the night without a tent on a narrow ridge at an altitude of 6100m did not allow the climbers to recover; most likely, this night killed their last strength. All subsequent events indicate that the guys were in a state of critical exhaustion. In addition, they ran out of food and gas, without which it was impossible to get water from the snow. The situation is completely out of control.

At the Summit of Siula Grande

The next morning, having barely begun their descent, the team had another accident, this time more serious. Simpson fell from an ice serac and broke his leg. There were still 900 vertical meters left to the flat area where the group could count on outside help.

In this situation, all the negative factors that I described in the article about the dangers of the small climbing group were at work, the main thesis of that article was the extremely low ability of the team of two to self-rescue.

Climbing Siula Grande in Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru

Simon Yates organized a long 90m rappel towards the Northern Ridge, tying two ropes together, but this method did not give much time gain. The climbers did not have enough equipment to organize a safe descent - the descent stations were cut down with an ice ax and did not provide reliable protection. Sequentially descending on a single rope (one participant had a broken leg), the duo spent almost the entire day climbing the 400m steep section down the slope.

North Ridge of Siula Grande - classic ascent route

However, an unpleasant surprise awaited them below. Following Murphy's law, nothing good could happen on the unknown descent route. While rappelling down the slope, Simpson suddenly lost his footing and found himself hanging in the air above a vertical ice drop in the lower third of the glacier.

There was not enough rope to reach the base of the ice cliff. Simpson, hanging in the air without the ability to reach the surface of the ice, attempted to climb up the rope with the help of two prusiks, but due to frostbite on his hands, he failed to cope with the task - he dropped one of the loops, making climbing the rope almost impossible.

Simpson found himself hanging over the overhanging crevasse on a short rope - with no way to return to the slope

Actually, at this moment began the most dramatic phase of history. The duo had no chance of salvation in this situation: Simpson, hanging on the ice overhang, could not climb back up the slope, and the upper Yates could not go down the loaded rope and help his partner in any way. In addition, due to the position of the climbers, they did not have the opportunity to coordinate their actions (no signals were received from the lower participant - they were not heard due to the bend of the slope)

Predatory profile of Siula Grande from the South-West

Now comes the most interesting (creepy) part of the story. After spending 1.5 hours in a state of complete uncertainty, Yates decided to cut the rope on which his friend was hanging.

It was a very, very dubious and strange decision, but it is not for me to judge people who were in extreme exhaustion on the edge of inevitable death.

Yates went down to the knot with which the ropes were tied together and cut off the lower one, along with his partner hanging on it, leaving himself on the slope with half the rope.

At the foot of Siula Grande

Yates no longer had the strength to continue the descent; there was no food or water. In this state, he survived another night on the slope, digging himself a small hole in the snow.

The next morning the weather improved - Yates was able to gather his last strength and continued the descent, using the piece of rope that remained with him.

Descending below the ice cliff where Simpson had hung the day before, Yates discovered a deep crevasse at its base, into which his partner (most likely) fell after he cut the rope. As Yates claimed later, he tried to look for Simpson in the crevasse, but no one answered to his calls. However, now that does not anymore - Simpson had no chance of surviving in such a situation - under any circumstances.

The summit of Siula Grande is getting dressed in a cloudy veil - bad sign. The weather is about to turn bad

And now - bingo!

From what happened next, only one conclusion can be drawn. That all the events in this world are controlled by some force unknown to us, and this unknown power possesses a rich imagination and its own, very specific sense of humor.

Contrary to common sense, Simpson, having received complete freedom to fall down, did not kill himself in that fall. In addition, by some miracle he did not die from hypothermia after falling more than 50 meters deep into the ice abyss.

And even more - in addition to the existing fracture, he did not receive more injuries - thanks to the fact that he landed in the loose snow bridge deep in the crevasse.

It all sounds like a fairy tale, but this story has witnesses, survived victims and documentary evidences.

Base camp at the foot of the 'Three Sisters of Huayhuash' - Siula Grande, Yerupaja and Yerupaja Chica

Simpson was unable to climb out from the crevasse - he had neither the strength, nor the equipment, nor the rope to climb the vertical ice wall. In this hopeless situation, Simpson decided to fight to the end - he began his descent into the black depths of the ice crevasse.

Incredibly, but a few hours later he found an exit to the glacier through an ice gap at the base of the crevasse. Really that is an amazing story... Especially considering the fact that after three days of wandering on the glacier, without food or equipment, Simpson reached the camp deadly exhausted but alive.

Just a few hours after Simpson, his unfortunate partner Simon Yates came to the same Base camp...

You have to really want to be a hero to dare to challenge Siula.

The story of Simpson's rescue after the accident on Siula Grande is one of the most amazing cases of rescue in the mountains in a clearly hopeless situation.

I can add positivity to this story by telling you the fact that the climbing partners Simpson and Yates did not lose their friendly connection after everything that happened to them on Siula. Yates even took part (as a co-author) in writing the book “Touching the Void,” which was authored and inspired by Simpson.

What useful conclusions can be drawn from the above?

Sorry, I won't entertain you with photos in this part of my article - if you need to, focus on the following text.

The main point: if we remove the lyric element of a fantastically successful coincidence of circumstances from this amazing story, then we will be left with a dry description of an ordinary climbing accident, with obvious reasons.

The thesis that the Simpson-Yates team made a “successful” ascent of Siula, in my opinion, is incorrect. Definitely they climbed the summit, that’s a fact, but they had an accident on the descent as a result of a series of their own tactical and technical errors.

The main mistake was that the guys did not know the route they decided to go down. This is the so-called “pro mistake” - experienced and strong climbers regularly fall into this trap. It seems to them that after climbing a difficult route they reach a "Level of the God", and any simpler lines, even unknown ones, do not pose a danger. Alas, this is not true.

I don't have to look far for examples. My friends died while descending from Mount Ushba in Caucasus, on the relatively easy (for their qualifications) North Ridge, after a very difficult East Face climb. Consulting them before the route, I insisted on preliminary familiarization with the descent route, but they decided on their own...

In Altai mountains, we rescued climbers from the Czech Republic on Mount Belukha - they took the wrong ridge and got lost on the descent, after a difficult climb to Peak Delaunay next to Mount Belukha. On Siula Grande, it seems to me, something similar happened.

Further. As follows from the description of accident, the decision to “shoot down” a climbing partner by cutting his rope was far from optimal. But we must take into account the general condition of the team.

It is not a fact that after a extremely difficult climb and subsequent emergency overnight on the exposed ridge, they were still able to make optimal decisions. This confirms my other thesis - about the low probability that in an emergency situation, even well-trained climbers are able to organize self-rescue. Regardless of the quality and quantity of their skills.

However, especially for those who would like details: in a situation where a partner is hanging on a rope on the overhand (or in a crevasse) and cannot climb the rope up, a reasonable decision would be to try to free the upper part of the rope by organizing another anchor down the slope and transfer the load to it. That is not easy but possible using a pruss knot or a jumar. After this, one can remove the upper rope and use it to descend to the victim.

And the last thing which, in my opinion, can be called the most valuable lesson in all of story. You can never give up. The guys saved their lives by miracle, but they deserved this miracle through their perseverance and the will to survive, regardless of other circumstances.

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The summit of Siula Grande, having became famous in the popular movie, is truly impressive with its shape and complexity of routes. Even access to the base of the mountain is an exceptionally difficult mountaineering task associated with organizing a serious expedition.

The combination of factors - remoteness from any infrastructure, the absence of routes below the ED category makes this mountain a desirable and ambitious, but extremely difficult goal to climb.

The only and unambiguous King of the Peruvian Summits. The Condor de los Andes

However, among other inaccessible mountains of the Cordillera Huayhuash mountain system, Siula Grande is one of the very popular goals, but exclusively among the strongest and experienced climbers.

Every year, existing routes to Siula Grande (there are currently 14 of them) are losing their relevance. This happens due to the active melting and subsidence of the glaciers - this phenomenon is observed in all mountainous regions of Peru and Bolivia.

The author of the text and some photos - Alex Trubachev
Your mountaineering and rockclimbing guide in Argentina, Peru and Bolivia

MCS EDIT 2024