In this chapter Joe Simpson explains his fear of bivouacs using an example of his dangerous situation in the Alps. Joe and his climbing party had readied their bivouacs and was about to go to sleep when one of their ropes or screws snapped and they were left precariously hanging over a crevasse with a small safety line keeping them alive. Eventually they got rescued by a helicopter. He explained all this as they were having to use bivouacs on the mountain they were climbing.