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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. How far from the nearest village do Joe, Simon, and Richard pitch base camp?
(a) 28 miles of easy walking.
(b) 56 miles of rough walking.
(c) 5 miles of glacier.
(d) 28 miles of rough walking.

2. What is verglas?
(a) Vertical ice.
(b) A type of eye lens used to help climbers with vertigo.
(c) Vertical scree.
(d) A thin glaze of glass-like ice covering the rock.

3. What does Joe say about bivouac sites?
(a) They are cold.
(b) They are convenient.
(c) They are hidden.
(d) He usually dislikes them.

4. Who is the first character mentioned by the author?
(a) Richard.
(b) Simon.
(c) Ian.
(d) Joe's parents.

5. When Joe and Simon move together, Joe moves only when...
(a) The rope moves.
(b) He can see Simon.
(c) Simon gives him the signal.
(d) The whiteout is over.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Joe describe the look in Simon's eyes when he tells Simon that he has broken his leg?

2. Who witnesses two climbers in Europe fall to their deaths the year before?

3. What do Joe and Simon climb at the beginning of the ascent on Siula Grande?

4. What do the climbers use to help them see at night?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the Peruvian family that lives in the huts.

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

3. Why is Joe nervous about the first bivouac site?

4. Explain how Joe feels for the two days immediately prior to setting out for Siula Grande.

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

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

7. After Joe tells Simon that he has broken his leg, he describes the pitiful look that Simon gives him as, 'a distance given to a wounded animal which could not be helped' (p74). From Simon's point of view, why does he give him this look?

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

9. What occurs to Joe at the beginning of "On the Edge"?

10. What worries Joe and Simon the most about the final part of the route to the summit?

(see the answer keys)

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