80 percent of accidents occur on descent.
A 2003 British survival docudrama directed by Kevin Macdonald that has two hikers, Joe Simpson (Brendan Mackey) and Simon Yates (Nicholas Aaron) trying to survive their climb on the west of Siula Granda in 1985.
The movie also features the hikers as themselves, with Ollie Ryall as Richard Hawking.
It was released on September 5, 2003.
Tropes for the film:
- Burn Baby Burn: The documentary has an interesting real-life subversion where Simpson falls into an ice crevasse and is believed to have died by his comrades. Turns out that he survives the fall and after crawling back to camp (on a broken leg no less!) is understandably upset to discover that they had burned his trousers in grieving.
- A Crack in the Ice: The movie is the real life story of how Simpson survived this.
- Cut the Safety Rope: When trying to return to base because one of the pair (Simpson) had a broken leg, Yates was forced to cut the rope and let them fall while attempting to lower them. Amazingly, despite thinking that his partner had certainly died from the fall, he not only survived (with even more injuries) but managed to crawl back to camp.
- Even more amazingly, the man who did the falling (Joe Simpson) has since publicly supported the actions of the man who did the cutting (Simon Yates) and forgiven him. Simon was in an impossible position, and the cutting of the rope ultimately saved both their lives.
- Facecam: Used extensively when Simpson is walking down a mountain on a broken leg.
- Sanity Slippage: The documentary is about Joe Simpson and Simon Yates in their attempt to climb the Siula Grande mountain. After Joe Simpson has had his rope cut, and has been days without food or water, he eventually becomes delirious; as he presumes himself to be close to death, the song 'Brown Girl in the Ring' by Boney M gets stuck in his head, which is a song that he hates.
