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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where do Joe and Simon first meet Richard?
(a) On the beach.
(b) In Zaire.
(c) On the mountain.
(d) In a hotel in Lima.

2. What does Joe do while he is waiting for Simon between lowerings?
(a) He screams at Simon to slow down.
(b) He reties the knot between the ropes.
(c) He digs a bucket seat in the snow for Simon.
(d) He traverses the slope to get out of Simon's way.

3. When Joe says to Simon, 'We should top out today' (p41), what does he mean?
(a) We should reach the summit.
(b) We should beat our altitude record.
(c) We should consume the maximum amount of calories.
(d) We should drink the maximum amount of fluids.

4. Joe recalls an incident with climber Ian Whittaker in which country?
(a) Zaire.
(b) England.
(c) France.
(d) New Zealand.

5. At one of the lowering changeovers, Simon smiles at Joe, and Joe realizes that their partnership...
(a) Had been a bad idea.
(b) Is just as effective and had turned from climbing to rescue.
(c) Is accident-prone.
(d) Has gone from bad to worse.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Joe and Simon move together along the ridge, how far behind Simon does Joe follow?

2. Before recounting the Mont Blanc incident, Joe determines that Simon...

3. Which practice route does Al Rouse understate as 'a ridge of some difficulty'?

4. What is a sticht plate?

5. What does Joe do to stifle the nausea caused by the pain?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Storm at the Summit", how does Joe get a bloody lip and a cracked tooth?

2. Joe describes the beginning of their practice climb on Yantauri as 'inauspicious' (p24). Why?

3. What happens on The Bonatti Pillar on Les Petits Drus in the French Alps?

4. On the first practice climb to Seria Norte, Joe loses sight of base camp and immediately notices what?

5. Explain how Joe feels for the two days immediately prior to setting out for Siula Grande.

6. Why does Joe consider standing on the summit an unsettling anticlimax?

7. What worries Joe and Simon the most about the final part of the route to the summit?

8. After Joe tells Simon that he has broken his leg, he describes the pitiful look that Simon gives him as, 'a distance given to a wounded animal which could not be helped' (p74). From Simon's point of view, why does he give him this look?

9. While trying to find the North Ridge again after leaving the summit, what happens to Simon?

10. On page 65 in "On the Edge", Joe says, 'Funny how my anxiety [about Simon's frostbitten fingers] seemed to have more to do with whether he would be able to carry on climbing after we got down rather than concern for his injuries'. Why is this statement significant?

(see the answer keys)

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