From a that-couldn't-possibly-happen perspective, I agree with you, Ken. Those two events were so outrageously impossible that even Hollywood wouldn't try to script it. I read
Touching the Void years ago and finally saw the movie a few months back. Simpson's matter-of-fact recounting of the ordeal was just amazing. So quintessentially British. His continuing support for Yates cutting the rope is another testament to his character, especially in the face of the controversy it caused.
While Messner's single ordeal on Nanga Parbat didn't have the same unbelievable drama, I think they gave him the number one slot due to what he accomplished afterwards, in toto. In my book, he was the most bad-ass climber ever to set foot on a mountain. Imagine what he might accomplish today with the advances in equipment and techniques.
