Читать книгу Extreme Survivors: 60 of the World’s Most Extreme Survival Stories - Collins Maps - Страница 59

Joe had reached camp just a few hours before Simon and Richard were due to leave with the donkey. If they had, he would have had no chance.

After an agonizing two-day mule ride they made it to Cajatambo where they hired a truck to take them to Lima.

Joe’s leg was yellow and brown and swollen as thick as his thigh all the way to the ankle. Purple streaks showed haemorrhaging around the knee and ankle where it was broken. He had lost 19 kg (3 stone).

After two days waiting without painkillers in hospital while his insurance company sent clearance, he was finally operated on. Joe needed six operations on his knee. The doctors said he would never climb again and that he would have a permanent limp. After two years of rehabilitation, he was back on the mountains. All subsequent climbers have avoided the North Ridge and rappelled back down the face.