Simon Yates: Pleasure & Pain

Presented by Speakers from the Edge

‘Touching the Void’ mountaineer, Simon Yates, is a veteran of over eighty expeditions to high/remote mountains around the globe and shows no signs of slowing down.

This is his story of the last decade, of new adventures and climbs in the far north and south, along with summits in South America, Central Asia and the Himalaya.

In 2023, Simon travelled with legendary British mountaineer Mick Fowler to attempt the un-climbed north face of Patkhor in Tajikistan, but contracted food poisoning from their freeze-dried food on just the second day.

After some debate, they continued, but this was just the beginning of a series of events that would see them run out of food, retreat below the summit in a storm and Simon taking a bone-breaking 100m fall during the descent. After two days of lying on the glacier waiting for a helicopter, rescuers finally arrived but were unable to carry Simon down. Somehow, he would need to summon the energy for the painful three day walk to safety.

A survival classic, with the added twists of a fast-paced thriller.