Simon and Joe continued to make a hasty decent down the mountain with Simon believing they are not that far anymore. Joe’s leg is badly injured so they continued their lowering system. As Joe was getting lowered he noticed that the cliff face started getting steeper till he feels like he’s sliding off the mountain, he starts yelling for Simon but he couldn’t hear him, he tried digging his axe into the ice but it wouldn’t break, before too long Joe slips off the cliff and is left dangling in the air 6 feet away from the cliff edge. He tried to reach the cliff and climb the rope but he couldn’t do it. Simon could feel Joe hanging off the cliff, he tried to pull him up but he too started slipping. realising he cannot help Joe and he can’t help himself Simon’s sense of survival lead him to cut the rope with his knife dropping Joe believing to have killed him. Trying to cope with all that is happened, Simon dug a snow cave and slept except he couldn’t. In the morning Simon continued his decent alone highly dehydrated.

The chapter picks up when Joe was still dangling off the cliff right at the moment when Simon cuts the rope and he falls. Joe lands on snow slips where he continues to fall further into the crevasse beneath him till he hits his head and land on an ice bridge sticking out. Due to frostbite he could not proper attach himself to the ice wall. He sat there trying not to laugh hoping that Simon fell with him and that he his holding on at the top of the crevasse. He found out that the rope was cut and decided to go to sleep crying. He is now in the void which is what delivers the title as he is surrounded by darkness. As he woke up he takes action and as he cannot climb up so he screwed his rope down and began to abseil down.

Simon descended down the mountain enough to see where Joe has fell from the cliff. He agreed to himself that Joe must have died and if he survived he wonders how. He then goes on to think how other people will respond to the news and how he is going to tell the story. He walks up to the crevasse thinking if he should go down and look for Joe but he does not have enough rope and he his already too exhausted to try and he already believes Joe didn’t survive. He tried calling out his name but no on responded, this let Simon traumatised of what he’d done. He climbed down the rest of the mountain still wondering what is going to happen when he tells everyone what has happened. He considered not telling the story but When he finally reunited with Richard he just told the whole story. Simon then lays down and gets a proper sleep.