Siula Grande

Joe Simpson's novel, 'Touching the Void,' made Siula Grande famous, and it was later converted into a film. In the Peruvian Andes, Siula Grande is a mountain in the Huayhuash mountain range. It reaches a height of 6,344 meters (20,814 feet) and has a subpeak, Siula Chico, at 6,260 meters (20,540 feet). Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, two English mountaineers, set out in 1985 to climb the West Face of Siula Grande, which had hitherto been unclimbed. Simpson stumbled and shattered his leg as he descended an ice cliff. Despite being separated from Yates, Simpson managed to drag himself all the way back to base camp in one of the most incredible acts of mountain survival ever. Joe Simpson and Simon Yates were the first to scale the west face of this monster, and their remarkable trip was chronicled in the book Touching the Void, which was adapted into a film.

Siula Chico, a subpeak of Siula Grande, rises to around 6,260 meters. A lengthy mountain pass connects the two peaks. After the adjacent Yerupajá, Siula Grande is the second highest mountain in the Cordillera Huayhuash.

Location: the Peruvian Andes
Elevation: 6,260 m
Range: Huayhuash mountain