Simon Yates (mountaineer)
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Simon Yates (born 1963) is a British mountaineer made famous by the book Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, about a successful but disastrous attempt by him and the author to climb the West Face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, in 1985.
He was born in Leicestershire, England. Simon started to study biochemistry, however gave that up to become a full time climber and mountaineer. Although the events on Siula Grande were one of his most public, the event only plays a small part in Simon's climbing and mountaineering experience. He is the author of two autobiographical books about mountaineering, Against the Wall (1997 ISBN 0-09-976641-8), which details an expedition to climb the central Tower of Paine in Chilean Patagonia and was runner-up for the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and The Flame of Adventure (2001 ISBN 0-89886-818-1).