Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER - The epic account of the storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray.
"A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism." --PEOPLE A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. "I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment." According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind."
"A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism." --PEOPLE A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. "I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment." According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind."
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
4.5, wow this book taught me so much about mountain climbing and I am just very confused on why so many people still try to climb these insane mountains.... like maybe I'm just not as driven or something but the death rate is SO high for an entirely optional and horribly painful activity
Incredibly tense, nail-biting, page-turning book that made me extremely glad I was sitting on my couch reading it instead of doing it. Seriously. The big take-away for me from this book was: humans are incredibly fragile and nature will kill you any chance it gets. The thing that is upsetting about the circumstances portrayed in this book, aside from it being a true story, is that basically everyone involved was not an idiot. But being stuck in extreme situations that push your body to the limit and warp your mind are not exactly conducive to survival. The fact that any of the people involved survived stuns me, quite frankly. Then again, I'm not exactly a person you have to remind to have a healthy fear of nature. I'm the person who awkwardly tells children not to turn their back on the ocean and also that birds carry disease and you really shouldn't touch that rotting avian corpse. (Let's skip conveniently past the fact that I have been known to poke dead jellyfish.) This book wasn't exactly a dissuasion to climb Everest because the fact of the matter is that I wouldn't have in the first place and also tend to have mild to extreme disdain for people to engage in life-threatening hobbies negligently. This was my problem with the first Jon Krakauer book I read, Into the Wild because the protagonist, a real person, was essentially a spoiled rich white boy who decided that he was going to be the one to beat the odds of nature killing him to live out, meaningfully, in the great wilderness. Spoiler alert: he's dead now and nature killed him. And there definitely was somebody (or several somebodies) in this book who was took the mountain too lightly, wasn't adequately prepared, and almost paid with her life. Probably, her incapacitation due to inexperience and naivety cost or contributed to the cost of the lives of several of her party members. I cannot hold with that kind of behavior. I believe she shouldn't have been up there in the first place and it makes me angry that her willful arrogance contributed to the deaths of others.
Fortunately, this book ultimately has more redeeming value than Into the Woods, which left me feeling cold. Mostly, this was a tragic accident that culminated in a variety of mistakes and problems and unavoidable issues. It was also poignant that this incident had made such an impact on Krakauer's psyche, and to me, at least, it was completely understandable why he had wanted to write it as an emotional release but also to do justice to the lives of the people lost. Plus, it was damn good writing. Krakauer doesn't lack for writing talent. I ended up devouring 75% of the book in a single sitting because I just couldn't stop turning pages. I also learned a lot, not just about the commercialization of Everest but about the Sherpa people, high-altitude sickness, climbing techniques... When a book can teach me something and also not bore me to tears, I'm one happy camper. This one had the added advantage of not just not boring me, but keeping me well entertained. Plus, this is, as it turns out, my fourth book by Krakauer. Might as well read his whole catalog at this point.
Definitely recommend the book. Don't know if I can stomach the movie. These were real people, yo. They're actually dead and most of them are still dead ON EVEREST. Let's have some tact.
Fortunately, this book ultimately has more redeeming value than Into the Woods, which left me feeling cold. Mostly, this was a tragic accident that culminated in a variety of mistakes and problems and unavoidable issues. It was also poignant that this incident had made such an impact on Krakauer's psyche, and to me, at least, it was completely understandable why he had wanted to write it as an emotional release but also to do justice to the lives of the people lost. Plus, it was damn good writing. Krakauer doesn't lack for writing talent. I ended up devouring 75% of the book in a single sitting because I just couldn't stop turning pages. I also learned a lot, not just about the commercialization of Everest but about the Sherpa people, high-altitude sickness, climbing techniques... When a book can teach me something and also not bore me to tears, I'm one happy camper. This one had the added advantage of not just not boring me, but keeping me well entertained. Plus, this is, as it turns out, my fourth book by Krakauer. Might as well read his whole catalog at this point.
Definitely recommend the book. Don't know if I can stomach the movie. These were real people, yo. They're actually dead and most of them are still dead ON EVEREST. Let's have some tact.
I read this as a selection for the book club I was in, and I'm honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I'm not usually big into biographies, but this was so much more than that. It's a recounting of events by the author (a survivor of the disaster), but the way he tells it feels almost like an action-packed thriller. Despite the fact that I knew what was going to happen, I still cried when certain people died. I still felt emotional when the author described the conditions they experienced. It was an incredible ride, and one I will be recommending for years to come.
This is my second Krakauer book, the other being "Into the Wild" which I also enjoyed. The thing that I've come to enjoy about Krakauer is his writing style and his matter-of-fact outlook on his topic.
I won't pretend to know how to deal with the situation that the expeditions on Everest had to deal with that May. I've never done anything that strenuous or risk taking in my entire life. I've hiked a little but I've never been mountaineering. I also have no dreams of ever climbing Everest so to try and criticize the actions (or lack thereof) of those who were struggling to survive the night of May 10, 1996 is not my place, especially 19 years after the fact. I do think that Jon wrote it perfectly when he stated "Walter Mittys with Everest dreams need to bear in mind that when things go wrong up in the Death Zone - and sooner or later they do - the strongest guides in the world may be powerless to save a client's life; indeed...the strongest guides in the world are sometimes powerless to save even their own lives."
I know there are other works written about this experience, and I may seek them out after a time. But as I did when I finished "Into the Wild", I will most likely spend a good deal of time mourning the lives that were lost, even if I didn't personally know the individuals involved. I feel Jon has done a brilliant job of portraying their personalities and their characters (as he did with Chris McCandless) and I feel that, through his work, I do know them a little and mourn the lives they didn't get to finish.
I highly recommend this book.
This and other reviews can also be found on my blog: backporchreview.weebly.com
I won't pretend to know how to deal with the situation that the expeditions on Everest had to deal with that May. I've never done anything that strenuous or risk taking in my entire life. I've hiked a little but I've never been mountaineering. I also have no dreams of ever climbing Everest so to try and criticize the actions (or lack thereof) of those who were struggling to survive the night of May 10, 1996 is not my place, especially 19 years after the fact. I do think that Jon wrote it perfectly when he stated "Walter Mittys with Everest dreams need to bear in mind that when things go wrong up in the Death Zone - and sooner or later they do - the strongest guides in the world may be powerless to save a client's life; indeed...the strongest guides in the world are sometimes powerless to save even their own lives."
I know there are other works written about this experience, and I may seek them out after a time. But as I did when I finished "Into the Wild", I will most likely spend a good deal of time mourning the lives that were lost, even if I didn't personally know the individuals involved. I feel Jon has done a brilliant job of portraying their personalities and their characters (as he did with Chris McCandless) and I feel that, through his work, I do know them a little and mourn the lives they didn't get to finish.
I highly recommend this book.
This and other reviews can also be found on my blog: backporchreview.weebly.com
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.