The Mountaineering Council of Scotland

Issue 21 December 2003

BOOK (and FILM) REVIEWS   Touching the Void. ……The long awaited film buy a copy on DVD It is difficult to think back to a time when the story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates on Siula Grande was not an integral part of the climbing psyche. A generation of climbers has now grown up aware that in the epic nature of the sport, Touching the Void represents the ultimate story of what a mountain can throw at you both psychologically and physically. It is the ultimate story of survival. The perfect blueprint, many have thought, for the hyperbolic Hollywood blockbuster. Yet on a twenty foot screen in Glasgow this was not what we saw. Rather than glamorous do or die glory we saw a documentary re-enactment of the events of June 1985. We saw Joe and Simon's faces etched with the strain and emotion of recalling the events which have defined their lives as they recalled the moments which have, to many, been variously the best climbing read(s) in years, a good evening's entertainment at a lecture or simply part of a conversation in which we all know what happened next. What this documentary shows is that we didn't necessarily know what happened next. The film leaves us in no doubt that to be part of the ultimate story of survival means to continue to live with the aftermath of events years later, and thanks to some of the most stunning, yet effectively underplayed mountain climbing footage ever seen, we have an even greater insight why. The filmmakers have conspicuously avoided the cliched climbing world of Cruise and Stallone, confronting us instead with the slow, painful, terrifying reality of Touching the Void. So engrossing is the footage, and so seamless the link between documentary and re-enactment, that even the artistic rendering of hallucination works perfectly. And yet of course, however engrossing the film, we are, thankfully, merely observers. The contributions of Richard Hawking hitherto the 'non-climbing companion' of the books proves to be a valuable and surprisingly insightful contribution to this film. His perspective, his impressions of Joe and Simon, his unfamiliarity with the climbing world and the events as they unfolded around him add greatly to the documentary. His is the true 'everyman' perspective; not the part of the furore of media interest, or the informed climber trying to assimilate the story. This story stands alone and this documentary is all the stronger for letting it do just that. Touching the Void proved to be a milestone in climbing literature. This film is more than its equal. The frank and deeply emotional personal contributions of Joe, Simon and Richard add so much more to this story, which, in this masterful piece of documentary film making, is more powerful and compelling than you could ever imagine. Catherine Howett The DVD version of Touching the Void is available from April 5, 2004. You can buy a copy from Amazon.co.uk using this link.   Escape from Lucania by Dave Roberts Published by Little Brown (2003). Hard Back. 206pages. 15 black & white photos. ISBN 9-780316-724883 buy a copy David Roberts book well deserves its subtitle 'An epic struggle fro survival'. He has lovingly researched his subject, and injects his story with personal recollections of Bob and Brad, his two heroes. Starting at a point when the two men, still friends, are in their nineties, Roberts weaves his tale by roaming backwards and forwards in time, a trick which I found slightly disconcerting. However, the main story becomes clear as we discover that the ascent of Lucania is not the crux at all, but rather the desperate management - or not - of the fearsome 'walk out' lasting a month on less than minimal rations and facing obstacle after obstacle on the way. Persevere with the earlier sections; the story gets better as it progresses. Alison McLaren   Rock Climbing in Scotland by Kevin Howett Published by Frances Lincoln Ltd 506 pages. 51 black&white photos; 30 maps; 68 Diagrams. ISBN 0-71-122409-9 buy a copy 'Great personality, shame about the face' is possibly the verdict on this second edition of the Constable guide. Kevin has done what we all need in producing a concise selected climbs guide that includes new routes all over Scotland, but his publisher has made a poor decision in restricting its visual impact. Imagine, instead of old, out-of-focus black and white photographs, we had new colour ones that exemplified the range of climbing Scotland has to offer? Further niggles include some existing mistakes reprinted; surely I did not do the original ascent of Enigma Grooves on Stac Pollaidh in 1962 with Tom Patey, though I did do the Direct Finish with Paul Goodwin in 1979; I'm not that old! Some routes are a little harshly graded too, though this seems to be traditional. More importantly some good 'new' crags have been left out such as Creag Ghlas or the Gruinard Crags. On the plus side there is a lot. The crags have carefully thought-out approaches that together with Kevin's high quality diagrams clearly show where the routes go. This all adds up to a more than evens chance of you arriving at the right route on the right crag. It is the most comprehensive selected climbs guide out and cleverly avoids the use of stars; as he says, “all the routes are worth doing”. Numerous new crags - granite on Arran, Jurassic rocks on Skye's Trotternish, gneiss at Gairloch, the sea cliffs of Reiff, Sheigra, Isle of Lewis and Pabbay, to the remoteness of Galloway and Dirc Mor - add a lot of new trips to plan for; though there is also a deletion of some of the less frequented ones in the first addition. Some Sports venues are included and all in all this wealth of information gives the best selection one could ever hope to have, and adds up a very useful book despite its artistic shortcomings. John Mackenzie Back to Newsletter index

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