What happened to Simpson after the rope was cut?
Simpson fell perhaps 50 feet to powder snow at the foot of the ice cliff and then slid again and fell perhaps another 50 feet onto powder snow in the crevasse or Bergschrund that lay at the foot of the cliff. He anchored himself to the ice wall of the crevasse and tried until daylight to climb up the ice wall. Finally, as daylight came, he decided to rappel down to a possible ledge of snow, below him and out of sight, that might lead to a snow ramp tapering out the end of the crevasse. It was a do-or-die courageous act, because he would not be able to climb back up the rope. It worked! He crawled out the end of the crevasse, saw the footprints of his partner come and go and knew that Yates had given him up for dead. Simpson realized he must save himself. He began to hop and crawl the miles back to camp over crevassed glacier ice and rough bolder strewn moraines, his injured leg hugely swollen and painful. He broke his three-day-long ordeal into short agonizing sections. He reached his
