Plot

After a mountain climber's severe injuries and near-death accident, he's told he'll never climb again. His recovery left him to confront the question: why, after coming so close to death, did he feel compelled to continue climbing?

After a near-death mountain climbing accident, Joe Simpson's injuries were so severe he was told he'd never climb again. His recovery left him to confront the question: why, after coming so close to death, did he feel compelled to continue climbing?

Joe Simpson, whose battle for survival featured in Touching the Void, travels to the Eiger to tell the story of one of mountaineering's most epic tragedies. The Beckoning Silence tells of Kurz's heroic battle for survival, but also forces Simpson to confront some fundamental questions of his own - why continue climbing when you have come so close to oblivion?

In The Beckoning Silence, Joe Simpson--whose amazing battle for survival featured in the multi-award winning "Touching the Void"--travels to the treacherous North Face of the Eiger to tell the story of one of mountaineerings most epic tragedies. As a child, it was this story and that of one of the climbers in particular, that first captured Simpsons imagination and inspired him to take up mountaineering.

Toni Kurz was a brilliant young mountaineer, who along with three other climbers tried to climb the mountain in 1936, which was then the last great unconquered peak in the Alps. Their assault on the mountain started well, but then disaster struck. One by one Kurzs colleagues were killed, leaving him alone, hanging on the end of a rope fighting for his life in the most horrific of circumstances. Over 50 years later in Peru, Kurzs story haunted Simpson as he battled for his own survival while hanging in mid-air. His plight uncannily mirrored that of Kurz--except, against all the odds, Simpson lived whilst his hero had perished.

The Beckoning Silence tells the story of Kurzs heroic battle for survival, but in the process it also forces Simpson to confront a fundamental question: why continue climbing when you have come so close to oblivion? In this gripping, action-packed adventure film with a difference, Simpson finally confronts his demons on the Eigers North Face, and rediscovers the thrill of the climb that once made him feel so alive.