Touching the Void Joe Simpson

Task 1 Socialise - Find someone who…

Question: Notes:

has been mountain climbing

has been to Peru

has been camping

has felt frightened

has relied on a friend

enjoys taking risks

knows what ‘crevasse’ means

knows what ‘glacier’ means

knows what ‘dehydrated’ means

knows what ‘altitude’ refers to

enjoys reading autobiographical

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Touching the Void Joe Simpson

Task 2 - Link – what are your views?

Discuss these questions with your table group:

1. What do you think attracts people to climbing mountains?

2. If you were going climbing with someone, what kind of person would you want them to
be?

3. If you were planning to go mountain climbing, what equipment would you consider
essential?

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Task 3 - Input

Look at the underlined words in the sentences below. In each case, what is the form used and what is
the reason for its use?

1. Simon and I had met Richard in a bar in a hotel in Lima. (p.10)

E.g. Form: past perfect

Reason for use: to give background – scene-setting for a story in the past simple.

2. We had set up our stove for cooking underneath a great rock. I filled the stove with petrol and lit
it.

Form:

Reason for use:

3. Each morning was fine and clear, but by midday, heavy cloud would move in from the east. Then
it would start to rain. (11)

Form:

Reason for use:

4. What would happen if something went wrong? (13)

Form:

Reason for use:

5. ‘Don’t worry!’ Simon shouted back. ‘We’ll be back soon!’ (14)

Form:

Reason for use:

6. It was just after midday and it would get dark at six o’clock. So we had just six hours to…climb up
into the wider gully. There we would dig a snow hole for the night. (18)

Form:

Reason for use:

7. By eleven o’clock we were in our sleeping bags. We had eaten a meal and had had a hot drink.
(23)

Form:

Reason for use:

What if Simon and Richard had already gone? Simon must have been back at the camp for two days.
(62)

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If we delay, the leg may become infected. (65)

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Form:

Reason for use:

Activity 2 Read the beginning of Simon’s story and then answer the question below.

Joe and I got to know each other in 1984 in Chamonix in the French Alps. We got on
well together, and that was when we first got the idea of making a trip to Peru the following
year, as we both wanted to climb bigger mountains. We were thinking of doing the
previously unclimbed West Face of Siula Grande in the Andes. We were experienced
climbers, but we knew that it was a very difficult route, which lots of people had failed, and
that if anything went wrong nobody would be able to rescue us.

What would you have done?

a) I would have tried to climb the mountain.

b) I wouldn’t have taken the risk.

Activity 2 Read the beginning of Simon’s story and then answer the question below.

Joe and I got to know each other in 1984 in Chamonix in the French Alps. We got on
well together, and that was when we first got the idea of making a trip to Peru the following
year, as we both wanted to climb bigger mountains. We were thinking of doing the
previously unclimbed West Face of Siula Grande in the Andes. We were experienced
climbers, but we knew that it was a very difficult route, which lots of people had failed, and
that if anything went wrong nobody would be able to rescue us.

What would you have done?

a) I would have tried to climb the mountain.

b) I wouldn’t have taken the risk.

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Activity 3 Read the second paragraph of the story, then answer the question below.

Quote from book?

What would you have done if you had been in that situation?

a) I would have tried to take my friend down the mountain.

b) I would have left him and gone to get help.

What would you have done if you had been in that situation?

a) I would have tried to take my friend down the mountain.

b) I would have left him and gone to get help.

Activity 4 Read the third paragraph and answer the question below.

I What would you have done?

a) I would have cut the rope to save myself.

b) I wouldn’t have cut the rope.

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Activity 6 Read the fourth paragraph and answer the question below.

How would you have felt if you’d been Simon?

a) I would have thought I was dreaming.

b) I would have felt frightened.

c) I would have felt guilty.

Activity 6 Read the fourth paragraph and answer the question below.

After I’d cut the rope I was in a state of shock and exhaustion. I spent the night in another
snow hole, waiting for morning. The following day I looked over the cliff and saw the
enormous crevasse below, and realises that was the deep hole into which Joe had fallen to
his death. I made my way sadly back to base camp, where I spent three days recovering.
Then I packed all my things ready to go home the next day and went to bed. I was deeply
asleep in my tent when suddenly I heard Joe’s voice calling my name...

How would you have felt if you’d been Simon?

a) I would have thought I was dreaming.

b) I would have felt frightened.

c) I would have felt guilty.

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Task 8 Match the sentence halves

Joe wouldn’t have fallen... they would have got down the
mountain safely.

If Simon hadn’t cut the rope... it would have been too late to
save Joe.

They could have called for help... if it hadn’t been so dark.

If Simon had gone for help... they would both have fallen
down the crevasses.

If Joe hadn’t fallen... If they’d had a mobile phone.

Activity 9 Make sentences using the second or third conditional

1. We haven’t got a good map. We’re lost.

___________________________________________________________________

2. We didn’t have any matches. We couldn’t light a fire.

___________________________________________________________________

3. You left the door open. The cat got out.

___________________________________________________________________

4. I don’t speak French fluently. I won’t get the job.

___________________________________________________________________

5. He fell. He wasn’t wearing mountain boots.

___________________________________________________________________

6. I can’t drive. I depend on public transport.

___________________________________________________________________

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Extend Roleplay

Points to consider:

 What mistakes did Joe and Simon make?

Work in threes. You are appearing on a television chat show. One of you is the host, one of
you is Simon Yates, and the other is Joe Simpson. Prepare a script for the show in which
Simon and Joe justify their past actions and explain the cause and effect chain of events
during their climbing trip to Peru. It may also be that Simon and Joe blame themselves and
each other for what happened.

Host: Tonight I’m very pleased to welcome Jo Simpson and Simon Yates to the show.
We’re going to be discussing their ill-fated and highly publicised climbing trip to the
Andes. Can I begin by asking you, Simon, what specifically were the things that went
wrong on your trip?

Simon: