Went to see Joe Simpson last night, quite entertaining (even though he was late, we just had an extra pint at the bar). Ostensibly he was there to give a reading from his latest book 'The Beckoning Silence'. But, he quipped "If you want a reading from it go and buy it!" and gave the audience a potted history of his life as a climber instead. This mainly seemed to consist of falling off things with much emphasis on his 'celebrated' brush with death on Siula Grande. Amusingly the route taken on the second ascent of Siula Grande by Buhler and Price was named 'Avoiding the Touch'. Simpson does still have one great climbing ambition left, that is to climb The Eiger's North Face (probably taking a nine iron with him). At the end questions were invited from the floor. I couldn't help but ask the first one, "Do you think you have enough balls to play golf?", I think he probably has.
On a personal note, his first slide of the evening had myself and my friends hooting with laughter, it was a copy of a 'Far Side' cartoon (A mountaineering speaker is being introduced as "The man who conquered Everest, the Matterhorn, Kilimanjaro...." Said speaker is of course in the process of falling down the stairs). I know the cartoon very well, I have a framed copy hanging on my office door, given to me by my 'friends' a couple of years ago in celebration of my awe inspiring skill of falling off!
This weekend we're off to the Lakes for the club AGM where Chris Bonington is the speaker, it will be interesting to compare the two.
