Siula Grande: Over the Edge | First Ascent | 1

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s June 1985. Two young British climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, set out to conquer the unclimbed west face of Siula Grande, a towering 21,000-foot peak in the Peruvian Andes. But high on the mountain, Joe suffers a catastrophic injury, forcing Simon to make an agonizing decision: risk his own life to try and save his partner… or leave him behind to die.

Our story consultant for this series is Simon Yates. If you’d like to learn more about his adventures in mountaineering, check out his books: Against the Wall, The Flame of Adventure, and The Wild Within - available wherever you get your books.

Order your copy of the new Against the Odds book, How to Survive Against the Odds: Tales & Tips for Animal Attacks and Natural Disasters, for stories of everyday people confronted by life-or-death situations, showing you how they survived—and how you can too. Learn more at SurvivalGuidebook.com.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Against the Odds early and ad-free right now.
0:05.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:09.7	A listener note. Against the Odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events.
0:15.1	Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research.
0:23.2	This episode contains explicit language.
0:39.3	Joe Simpson feels his heart pound harder as he hikes deeper into a remote valley in the Peruvian Andes, a heady mix of exhilaration and thin air.
0:43.3	Mountains rise all around him, raw and magnificent, under a brilliant blue sky.
0:50.3	It's late May, 1985.
0:53.3	After a long, winding bus ride and two days trekking on foot, Joe and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, have finally made it to base camp 15,000 feet above sea level.
1:07.0	This is as far as the donkeys can carry their gear.
1:10.8	Just five more miles up the valley lies the base of Ciula Grande, the majestic mountain they've come all this way to climb.
1:20.1	Joe and Simon are joined by a new friend, a fellow Brit named Richard Hawking, who they met just a few days ago in Lima.
1:28.3	Richard's been backpacking through South America.
1:31.0	He's not a climber, but he's funny and good company, so they invited him along to watch
1:36.2	their gear while they're on the mountain.
1:38.3	They unload their tents and equipment and start setting up camp.
1:42.9	Joe takes a moment to glance around. A turquoise
1:46.4	lake shimmers nearby, framed by towering snow-covered peaks. Wow, this is so much better than
1:54.4	the Alps. Simon smiles, nodding in agreement. They're truly in the middle of nowhere, exactly what Joe wanted.
2:03.6	For him, the whole appeal of climbing is to disappear into places like this,
2:08.6	far from the real world.
2:10.6	No hordes of climbers, no helicopters, just them, their equipment, and the mountains. It's risky going up as a two-man
	...

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