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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Simon tells Joe that he is knackered. What does this mean?

3. How does Simon cut the rope?

4. Joe recalls an incident with climber Ian Whittaker in which country?

5. How many hours do Joe and Ian hang on the rope before being rescued?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Joe and Simon start their ascent of the first ice wall on Siula Grande, what is Joe's attitude toward what they are doing?

2. After breaking his leg, why doesn't Joe ask Simon for help?

3. In "Disaster", Joe says, 'In an instant an uncrossable gap had come between us and we were no longer a team working together.' In "The Final Choice", how has Joe's view changed?

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

5. 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?

6. In "Storm at the Summit", how does Joe get a bloody lip and a cracked tooth?

7. Why does Simon cut the rope?

8. On page 65, Joe says, 'I knew it would be a good day.' By the end of the day, how and why does his view of the day change?

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

10. When beginning his climb for the summit from the bivouac site 300 feet below the summit, what pros and cons does Joe mention about climbing in the daylight?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In "Ten Years On", Joe includes an excerpt from Simon's book "Against the Wall", in which Simon describes the rope as representing a "powerful symbol of trust and friendship". Cite examples in the book that support or refute this notion. Is the climber's rope simply a safety measure or, as Simon suggests, symbolic of a powerful life-and-death bond of trust between men on the mountain?

Essay Topic 2

What influence does Richard have on the outcome of this story? Is he significant? Would the outcome have been different if Richard had not been with them?

Essay Topic 3

The Prologue of the book is the quote by T.E. Lawrence, preceding the first chapter. Why do you think the author chose this excerpt? What do you think it means? How is it significant? What does it have to do with the story?

(see the answer keys)

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