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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Joe do to stifle the nausea caused by the pain?
(a) He induces vomiting.
(b) He bends his right knee.
(c) He pushes his face into the snow.
(d) He holds his breath.

2. Joe notes in the chapter "On the Edge" that any accident needing a rope to break a fall would be...
(a) A bummer.
(b) Just what they need.
(c) Fatal.
(d) Ideal.

3. How does Joe describe the look in Simon's eyes when he tells Simon that he has broken his leg?
(a) 'Exhibiting an instant connection to my plight.'
(b) 'Full of...a distance given to a wounded animal which could not be helped.'
(c) 'As if he were saying "No comment"'.
(d) 'Unthinking.'

4. What is the first thing that Simon says to Joe in the chapter "Tempting Fate"?
(a) "I'll go first, shall I?"
(b) "My fingers have never been this bad."
(c) "This is it!"
(d) "It's freezing cold!"

5. A character in the book recounts an incident where one climber is dragged off a cliff while roped to his partner. What nationality are these climbers?
(a) English.
(b) French.
(c) Japanese.
(d) Peruvian.

Short Answer Questions

1. Joe notes that some of the icicles are as thick as...

2. At the end of "The Final Choice", how does Simon feel?

3. How many practice climbs do Joe and Simon complete in order to acclimatize?

4. What does Joe mean by a "tortured" cornice?

5. What is a pitch?

Short Essay Questions

1. On the eve of the summit conquest, what does Simon do that leaves Joe in disbelief?

2. What happens on The Bonatti Pillar on Les Petits Drus in the French Alps?

3. While trying to find the North Ridge again after leaving the summit, what happens to Simon?

4. While thinking about the possibility of having fallen off the ridge while roped together, Joe talks about what incident witnessed by Simon?

5. Joe describes the beginning of their practice climb on Yantauri as 'inauspicious' (p24). Why?

6. Describe the first bivouac site on Siula Grande.

7. On page 65 in "On the Edge", Joe says, 'Funny how my anxiety [about Simon's frostbitten fingers] seemed to have more to do with whether he would be able to carry on climbing after we got down rather than concern for his injuries'. Why is this statement significant?

8. Why does Joe consider standing on the summit an unsettling anticlimax?

9. Toward the end of "On the Edge", Joe awakens in the snow hole with what sensation?

10. Compare or contrast the influence of the incident on The Bonatti Pillar on the climbing careers of Joe Simpson and Ian Whittaker.

(see the answer keys)

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