Thread: "touching the void" documentary...mindblowing!

anyone seen this film based on the true story of two mountain climbers in the peruvian andes? it is probably the greatest testament to the human will to survive i have ever seen...

essentially its about two friends who climb a virgin face from a base camp. they make the summit, but one breaks his leg badly in multiple places (which is usually a death sentence in those conditions). but they both tried to get down together.

eventually their only option was to tie two lengths of rope together and lower the injured one over a ledge in a snowstorm, hoping it would work out. little did they know it was a vertical face, and the rope wasn't long enough.

after an hour of supporting the hanging man's weight, his friend was forced to cut the rope or be pulled over himself.

and that's just the beginning....believe me you won't believe what they go through.

after watching it i was so speechless and impacted i just sat in a daze for close to an hour. this was one of those films that changed the way i look at the world, and the human spirit.

you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer, you'll be amazed...see it!!

http://www.pbs.org/previews/touchingthevoid/#

there's a book as well, but the movie is probably much more interesting unless you know all the mountaineering terminology.

http://<a href="http://www.amazon.co....3-2463630</a>

That film is incredible. Channel four showed it about a month ago. I can't believe that guy's determiniation to walk down an entire glacier with a broken leg, having not eaten or drank in days, in freezing weather

The link to the origional site-http://www.touchingthevoid.co.uk/

I think Aron Ralston is more badass... not that I've watched the documentary yet

eff that schitt... timothy treadwell has them all beat... he didn't cut off an arm or send his friend to his death... he was eaten by a effing bear... A BEAR.

Originally posted by dudesuperior
That film is incredible. Channel four showed it about a month ago. I can't believe that guy's determiniation to walk down an entire glacier with a broken leg, having not eaten or drank in days, in freezing weather

The link to the origional site-http://www.touchingthevoid.co.uk/

Yeah. this is one seriously enthralling documentary. I just sat there, watching it, just totally not believing anything that was happening, but knowing it was true nonetheless. To think that somebody has that sort of willpower? Shit... you'd have to have such strength of mind to go through what those two guys did, and still survive.

^^^The way that guy set little targets to achieve his goal to get down the mountain was, according to him, the only way he kept going.

I've heard of this...don't think i've read the book yet. I read Jon Krakauer, 'Everest' and 'Into the wild'.
The first one being about the everest disaster of the nineties, something like 25 people went up there, and i think four of them died or something.
Into the Wild was about a young man who decided it would be a good idea to walk into alaska with nothing but a pair of boots and a rucksack!!

Found this on wiki

Originally posted by irishcream
Into the Wild was about a young man who decided it would be a good idea to walk into alaska with nothing but a pair of boots and a rucksack!! *

What a clever idea. I hear stories like this all the time on 'Ray Mear's extreme survival'. Most of the people survive by pure chance.

Very naive thing to do though...the guy eventually died of a combination of starvation and poisoning. He picked some berries that he hadn't identified correctly and poisoned himself!

Whatever. You wouldn't believe what happened today at the mall. Like, my mother was about to buy me some shoes that went out of style last fall! I was just like, "I am so sure!"

there's a new series now...

"i shouldn't be alive"

it's from the makers of touching the void...

^^^That's on the discovery channel right?-I don't have it anymore

Looks good anyways

Originally posted by dudesuperior
^^^That's on the discovery channel right?

yup

Originally posted by CryoDragoon
there's a new series now...

"i shouldn't be alive"

it's from the makers of touching the void...

That's a good show, but I've only seen it once. I'm gonna have to look and see when times it's usually on.

Touching the void is amazing. By far the best documentary film thing ever made.