Joe Simpson

Simpson and Simon Yates climbed the west face of Siula Grande in Peru in 1985. Simpson broke his leg on the descent, Yates lowered him repeatedly until Simpson went over an overhang in the dark and could not be raised, and Yates cut the rope rather than be pulled off with him. Simpson survived the fall into a crevasse and crawled back to base camp across three days. Touching the Void is his account of it, and it defends Yates's decision throughout, which is why mountaineers still argue about the book rather than about the choice.