Last week on National Park After Dark, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, two young British climbers,

were high on the remote west face of Ciula Grande in Peru, attempting a route that had never been climbed before.

After days of effort at extreme altitude, they reached the summit only for it to turn immediately into worsening weather

as they began their descent. Snow moved in quickly, visibly collapsed into a whiteout,

and the face beneath them became unstable and dangerous. As they worked their way down,

Joe slipped and fell, shattering his leg and leaving him unable to descend on his own. Stranded high on the

mountain, with daylight fading and no realistic possibility of rescue, Simon made the decision to lower

Joe down the face one rope length at a time anchoring himself in the snow and absorbing his

partner's full weight. For hours, the system worked. Even as the cold

deepened, their hands went numb and exhaustion set in. Then, Joe was lowered over an unseen

overhang and left hanging in space above a crevasse, unable to find footing or climb back up.

Above him, Simon waited in a collapsing snow seat,

the rope cutting into his harness,

his strength draining as the storm pressed in and night fell.

With no way to communicate and no solution left that would save them both,

Simon cut the rope.

Joe vanished into the darkness.

There was no sound, no movement, no sign of life.

Believing his partner was dead, Simon was left alone on the mountain, still high on the face,

with the weather deteriorating, his hands numb, his strength failing, and no clear way down.

Little did Simon know, Joe had survived the fall. This is where we picked the story back up.

Welcome to National Park After Dark.

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