Into Thin Air

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Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster is a bestselling non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer.^[1] It details the author's May 10, 1996 ascent of Mount Everest, which turned catastrophic when eight climbers were killed and several others were stranded by a 'rogue storm'. The author's expedition was led by the famed guide Rob Hall, and there were other groups trying to summit on the same day, including one led by Scott Fischer, whose guiding agency, Mountain Madness, was perceived as a competitor to Rob Hall's agency, Adventure Consultants^[2][3]

The book was adapted into a 1997 TV movie named Into Thin Air: Deaths on Everest starring Peter Horton as Scott Fischer and Christopher McDonald as Jon Krakauer. The book and the film both contain the same strong editorial viewpoint regarding the fundamental causes of the tragedy, although the film differs sharply from the book in details regarding responsibility.

[edit] Summary

In the book, Krakauer writes about the events leading up to his eventual decision to participate in an Everest expedition, despite having mostly given up mountain climbing years before. Initially, Krakauer, being a journalist for adventure magazine Outside, stated that his intentions to climb Everest were purely professional. The original magazine story was to have Krakauer climb only to base camp, and report on the commercialization of the mountain. However, the idea of Everest grabbed him and reawakened his childhood desire for climbing the mountain. Krakauer asked his editor to put off the story for a year so that he could train for a climb to the summit. From there, the book chronologically moves between events that take place on the mountain and the unfolding tragedy which takes place during the push to the summit. In the book, Krakauer alleges that essential safety methods adopted over the years by experienced guides on Everest are sometimes compromised by the competition between rival guiding agencies to get their clients (some with little or no mountaineering experience) to the summit.

Throughout the climb, Krakauer details his teammates, his guides and other expeditions on the mountain. He tries to piece together a continuous timeline of the events that take place in the weeks they are on the mountain.

Krakauer joins the climbing service called Adventure Consultants, guided by Rob Hall. The guide service is intended to speed up the acclimatization process and guide the climbers successfully to the summit of Mount Everest.

The climb is structured into camps: Base Camp, Camp One, Camp Two, Camp Three and Camp Four. After spending weeks at Base Camp, the group makes a number of trips up to the other camps to speed up the acclimatization process. In the beginning of May, the group makes a summit push.

All of the clients have difficulty adjusting to the altitude, tiring easily, losing weight and moving slowly. The climbers' experience in mountain climbing and at high altitudes varies—some of them are quite qualified, others very inexperienced and highly reliant on the guides.

The actual summit push is when everything begins to fall apart. Rob Hall appoints a 2:00 pm turn-around time, meaning that everyone who has not actually reached the summit by then must turn around, no matter how close he or she is. That day, only Krakauer and a few other climbers make it to the top before 2:00 pm. Members of his group reach the top as late as 4:00 pm—the turn around time is not enforced. Among the later arrivals to the top is Rob Hall and another member, Doug Hansen. They arrive just behind another climbing group guided by Scott Fischer.

A storm hits the summit that afternoon, and Krakauer catches only the tail end of it before he successfully reaches the refuge of Camp Four. Krakauer is well ahead of most of his teammates and has no idea what lies in store for them.

Hall and Hansen get stranded due to Hall's decision to assist Hansen to the summit, despite deteriorating conditions and a late hour. Hansen runs out of supplemental oxygen and cannot continue. Another group, led by Mountain Madness assistant guide Neal Beidleman and composed of largely Mountain Madness clients, gets lost in the blizzard after electing to take a less direct but less steep route to Base Camp Four. After Beidleman and three others struggle into Camp Four, a second Mountain Madness assistant guide, Anatoli Boukreev, rescues all but two of them. The remaining two are left, presumably dead.

Fischer also gets stranded, and when he is finally found, he is dead. Hansen dies and one of Hall's Sherpas tries to rescue Hall, but cannot climb high enough. An assistant guide dies trying to rescue Hall and Hansen.

One of the two clients left for dead, Beck Weathers, actually makes it back to camp and miraculously survives the ordeal. He eventually undergoes a number of amputation and surgeries for his injuries. All told, a dozen people die on Everest that season, and Krakauer, originally there to report on the business of taking people up the mountain, cannot forget what he sees there.

After Krakauer publishes his article, he writes this book because he feels he has more to say. He has done extensive research and conducted interviews with all of the survivors, and has information that he didn't have at the time he wrote the article. His opinion is that the events that happened on the mountain deserve to be told in as thorough and accurate a manner and possible. He spends a considerable amount of time reflecting on what happened and how it has changed his life forever. Krakauer struggles with survivor's guilt and a redefined view on mortality and addresses questions about events on the mountain that perhaps don't have answers. Krakauer acknowledges and apologizes for any pain or anger his book might arouse in the friends and families of victims, but is undeterred from detailing the events, be they heroic, selfish or tragic.

[edit] See also

• The Climb - a book by Anatoli Boukreev with a critical analysis of the Adventure Consultants team and an alternative explanation to the events of those few days on Everest

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Into Thin Air -- the original article by Jon Krakauer published in Outside magazine in September 1996
• The Outside Literary All-Stars: Jon Krakauer published in Outside magazine
• Interview with Peter Horton on the TV Movie
• Into Thin Air: Death on Everest at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1109650 Radio interview with Jon Krakauer, May 1996.