20 Survival Stories That Put Human Endurance in Another Light

“Brown Girl in the Ring” was not a song Joe Simpson particularly liked. That did not stop the Boney M. tune from repeating in his exhausted mind while he dragged a shattered leg across the Peruvian Andes. The ordeal began in 1985 after Simpson and Simon Yates completed the first ascent of the west face of Siula Grande. During the descent, Simpson fell and drove his lower leg through his knee joint. Yates attempted to lower him down the mountain, but Simpson eventually went over an unseen cliff and was left hanging in midair. Unable to pull him back and feeling himself being dragged from his position, Yates cut the rope to prevent both climbers from falling. Simpson dropped into a deep crevasse and landed on a narrow ledge.