Cutting The Rope in Touching the Void Essay

Cutting the Rope

In Touching the Void by Joe Simpson two friends, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, are climbing a mountain that had never been climbed before. On the way down, Joe falls off of a cornice and breaks his leg. While Simon is lowering Joe down the mountain, Joe goes off an ice cliff and is hanging in mid-air. After what seemed like an eternity Simon had to make a decision: to keep trying to rescue Joe and kill both of them in the process or to take out his pocket knife and cut the rope. He chose to save his own life and cut the rope, a decision which is the only reasonable option in a situation like this.

Even though the moral thing to do would be to not cut the rope, Simon had to consider his own personal safety. I was being pulled off. The seat moved beneath me, and snow slipped away past my feet. I slipped a few inches (102). He had to choose whether he was going to live or die when he realizes, he makes the only reasonable decision. I could feel the snow slowly giving way beneath me (103). Anyone would have made the same choice that he did by saving his own life. Why should two people die in this situation, when one has the ability to save himself?

Secondly, both climbers knew that the situation they placed themselves in carried huge risks. The struggle to survive is one in which both understood on unwritten rule: an individual should focus upon his personal safety first. It was a miracle that Joe even survived. He was preparing to die much before he fell off the ice cliff. I was already suffering the dehydrating and weakening effect of a traumatic fracture of a major bone and the consequent internal bleeding. (205). Many people think that Simons decision was wrong but Joe is not one of them. He agreed with Simons decision. I am so relieved to hear him say that his conscience is clear, for he did what I would have done in his place, the only sensible course open to him at the end of a heroic attempt to rescue me. (203).

In the end, climbing is an extremely dangerous activity. Everybody that climbs at high altitudes willingly puts his life on the line. Climbers live by a motto, that as harsh as it sounds, ultimately insensitive is life-saving you must be able to save yourself. But miracles do happen. And as this story illustrated, by living by this motto, miracles can come into play and save the day.