Trivia for
Touching the Void (2003) More at IMDbPro »

• Some of the long distance shots of Simon and Joe climbing the mountain are played not by the lead actors, but by body doubles, who were Simon Yates and Joe Simpson themselves.
  
  
• At the end of the movie, there's a written line claiming that Simon faced "strong criticism" from the climbing community after his return to England. This claim has been repeated in several press statements and reviews, but it's not correct. What really happened is that, one month after his return in Europe, Simon went climbing in the Alps, unaware that the Daily Mail newspaper had published a wildly incorrect version of the Siula story, implying that Simon had tried to kill Joe. This was of course absurd, and the British climbing community dismissed it immediately as nonsense. However, back home Simon discovered that a small group of senior members of the Mount Everest Foundation (the body that manages founding for climbing expeditions in the Greater Ranges) had misjudged the story and now wanted Simon excluded in the future from the MEF funds - a move that could basically kill Simon's climbing career. At this point however, Joe Simpson had a correct version of the Siula story published in a respected climbing magazine, and the whole issue was cleared. However, in the DVD commentary, Joe Simpson himself clearly says that Simon came under much criticism after returning home, and that he wrote Touching the Void to defend Simon.
  
  
• Also at the end of the movie, another line claims that the route opened by Simon and Joe has never been repeated. This is also partially incorrect. Political unrest in the area (because of Sendero Luminoso activities) prevented climbers to reach Siula for many years. However, in 1999, Carlos Buhler, one of the most talented US alpine-style climbers, repeated the route with a companion, Mark Price. In the upper half of the face (the one covered by Joe and Simon in their last day on the West face), Buhler/Price continued directly upwards on steep mixed ground where Yates/Simpson had moved right, over an ice rib, and into the huge, right slanting gully fanning open towards the top. This route led directly to what arguably was the true summit, a point that appears higher than the southern tip of the ridge. This new direct variant (humorously named "Avoiding The Touch") led straight up to this summit, and was more technically difficult but safer. Once on top of the peak, they left their rucksacks and traversed on easy terrain along the airy ridge to the south until they stood on the point Simpson/Yates considered the top, the point where the ridge dropped off very steeply towards Siula Chico. They then retraced their footsteps back to their first "summit" and continued northwards along the same ridge that Simpson/Yates had descended. However, after descending several hundred horizontal meters and enduring a sixth bivouac (on this airy ridge) Buhler/Price decided to rappel directly down the West Face instead of continuing North along the very exposed and corniced ridge. After 20 sixty meter rappels, they rappelled over the bergshrund about 2-300 meters north of where Joe had been dropped into the bergshrund when Simon had cut the rope. Buhler/Price had deep respect for the route of descent that the two Brits had negotiated and were in awe of their ability to descend it in the condition they were in.
  
  

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