UKH

Told first in a book, and later a movie, the story will be familiar - the hiker trapped in a nightmare scenario, who severs his own arm and lives to hike another day. But what went through his mind on the way to that extremity? And was he always heading towards some sort of macho mishap? If you're going to find self-knowledge the hard way, it doesn't come much harder than Utah's canyonlands, says Ronald Turnbull. 

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I enjoyed the book, but had a feeling it was ghost written... Is it still a classic if so? Maybe this review focusing on the film so much reflects this too? 

The film was terrible, but enjoyed the book.

Joe Simpson dangling from a piton on the Walker Spur? Are you sure you don't mean the Bonatti Pillar? Or is this yet another epic?

If anyone in the world were to have two ledges collapse from underneath them on a bivi, you probably wouldn't bet against it being Joe Simpson.

Not quite the opposite but I thought the book was ok (I found he came across as a pretty unlikeable person which I found odd if he wrote it - but perhaps it was ghost written as lex says which would perhaps explain that to some extent).  However, I found the film good and enjoyable - much more so than the book.

I certainly wouldn't consider the book to be a classic by a long shot.

I enjoyed the book but I ended up skipping every other chapter when he talked about his past - I didn't feel it added much and was God heavy.

I'd agree that the book itself isn't classic - but the situation is! Unlike some of the commenters I did like the book, and didn't suspect it of being ghost-written: in an unselfconscious way Aron revealed more about himself than he actually knew himself. If you see what I mean. And the film brought out this side of him (egotistical and self-centred, basically) while still admiring his adventurous spirit not to mention his taste in music. I liked the film too.