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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. What is Joe attempting to do when he falls and injures himself?

2. What is the elevation of Siula Grande?

3. What is a patina?

4. How do Peruvian flutings contrast to European flutings?

5. What description does Joe lend to the sounds of icicles breaking away?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

3. Describe the first bivouac site on Siula Grande.

4. 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?

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

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

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

8. 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?

9. At the beginning of "Disaster", what is Joe's attitude?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Revisit the Shakespeare soliloquy that Joe hears in his head and eventually recites. Why does this verse come to mind, and why is he familiar with it? Why is it significant that a soliloquy surfaces in his mind, and not another type of speech or writing? What inherent characteristics of a soliloquy make it appropriate to Joe's current circumstances? Does the content of the Shakespeare piece have any significance to Joe's situation? How do you interpret the soliloquy?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Compare and/or contrast Joe's use of patterns and rhythm throughout the book. Does he use them as a function of his personality, as a result of the essence of climbing, or out of necessity? Discuss the appearance of these patterns in climbing, in the rescue attempt, and in Joe's journey back to base camp.

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