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Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster Paperback – October 19, 1999

by Jon Krakauer (Author, Photographer), Randy Rackliff (Illustrator), Daniel Rembert (Contributor),

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National Bestseller

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. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster.

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."

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Into Thin Air is a riveting first-hand account of a catastrophic expedition up Mount Everest. In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day eight people were dead. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Heroism and sacrifice triumph over foolishness, fatal error, and human frailty in this bone-chilling narrative in which the author recounts his experiences on last year's ill-fated, deadly climb. Thrilling armchair reading.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product details

Paperback: 332 pages
Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (October 19, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385494785
ISBN-13: 978-0385494786
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3,240 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Mountaineering > Mountain Climbing
- #4 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Chinese
- #11 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Journalists

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Great book---but why not a single pic of any of the heroic SHERPAS?!

BySui Jurison July 21, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Pretty good account from one of my favorite genres: True-life survival biography.
I found the book compelling from the get-go, and downright gripping at times. He did a good job of piecing together where the various actors were on the mountain at pivotal moments of the final ascent and descent to and from the summit.
My only beef: Could've benefited from more photos, e.g. Some of the other major characters in the story (The rich, deletente, Sandy Pittman; The guides and clients of the expedition; the members of the other expeditions [the Taiwanese team, the South Africans]...and especially THE SHERPAS! Why no photos of the SHERPAS?).

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Great book

ByDeborah E. Perfidioon June 4, 2012

Format: Library BindingVerified Purchase

I have to say, before reading this book I had NO idea what climbing mountains entailed. It is how shall I say, "another world" - one I would be terrified to be a part of after having read this book. I agree with others that - perhaps also it is because it was written at such an emotional time, but Krakauer does seem to have a lot of emotional distress boiling inside of him, but I am certain it has to do with possible, survivors guilt, which he does mention and the fact that this feud brewed between him and Boukreev, and I agree - having read and reread many different POVs on this particular part of Boukreev not using oxygen, turning back before alot of the people but then saving 3, I agree that Krakauer has a particular amount of anger toward this man, who is deceased now, but the impression even with the ending of him ultimately coming to a certain amount of admiration for him, it seems as though a large amount of his distress stems from a seemingly small incident at the top of the mountain (but again I am no mountaineer) and from what I read, it wasn't such a small problem though to me almost seems irrelevant in regards to the rest of the book and the huge feat of ALL of the climbers, survivors or not, of what they accomplished, God Rest the Souls of those who did not survive.
To have gone through what he had, being a journalist and not a mountaineer as they say, one can only imagine - there has to be a lot of pain in his heart about seeing people he went up with only to watch 10 of them I think it was? die, And at one point - (Im terrible with the names) there was a part where he sees who he thinks is Andy Harris but turns out to actually be another man who survived and it brought him a tremendous amount of pain that he originally thought the man was alive and in a camp, his significant other called only to have to call them back the next day to tell her that he was in fact dead. Again, the book was a HUGE undertaking for me as far as keeping everyone's names straight so I might be confusing that one point - I just know that Krakauer seemed to be emotionally terribly distraught by a lot of the events that happened. To debate this Boukreev using oxygen I think is pointless - what happened happened - to me, anyone who climbs mountains for a living or for sport I admire, I suppose, but I also think YOU ARE CRAZY LOL - (said as light heartedly as I can) my goodness, what possesses people to want to do this? It has to be a calling a true inner calling that I can just not fathom. It sounds like an awful lot of pain for a little gain but hey, the same can be said for life in general.
I admire Krakauer and enjoyed the book thouroughly. I did not read the Climb and probably never will - one mountain book for me is enough. It was enthralling but scared me to a degree. Again, I cannot imagine the pain of being that cold and without oxygen, being asthmatic, and thinking back to my oxygen depleted youth NOTHING hurts worse than not being able to breathe so climbing any mountains for me is OUT OF the question, especially after reading this book WOW is all I have to say!!!
And for anyone a part of the 1996 climb who is still alive - give yourself a break, you too, Krakauer, what you did was fine and I see no reason for you to feel guilty - let go of those negative feelings - at one point in the book a Sherpa gets hit in the back of the head with a stone several times and turns to tell Krakauer, WHAT have we done to make the mountain Gods so angry???
That part more than any other made me think....what INDEED????

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Impressive and factual. Fascinating read.

ByMimmo Panunzioon June 7, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I really enjoyed reading this account of events in 1996. I feel Mr Krakauer was able to put ego aside and with extensive research and interviews to back up his personal experience, present a morbidly fascinating insight. I also felt a great deal of compassion in his account towards fellow climbers and even critics in the main body and afterwords.
It must take great discipline to write about such a deeply personal event with such diligence towards fact and wherever speculation was presented the reader was always made aware, and repeated attempts to offer technical/clinical explanations for behaviours that seem out of character or normal behaviour.
I remember hearing about this tragedy when it happened but was only inspired to learn more after seeing the highly holywoodized movie Everest. This book truly reminded me how important separating fact from fiction/entertainment really is and highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more from a highly endearing account from a humble human and gifted writer who happened to be there.
Thank you to the author for giving us a chance to hear your story and the events as you presented.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Slightly more cathartic than clinical

ByPeter Monkson February 23, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Together with Joe Simpson's Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival, "Into Thin Air" is perhaps the most widely read book about modern mountaineering today. Krakauer, a journalist accompanying an expedition of "paying customers" to climb Everest in 1996, was caught in a storm that shortly after summiting that killed five climbers. "Into Thin Air" is a cross between a clinical examination of the factors that contributed to this disaster and a (limited) self-examination and therapeutic exercise by the author to confront his own contribution to the tragedy.

While "Into Thin Air" at times feels like a slightly padded and stretched version of the magazine article Krakauer initially wrote, in general the story moves quickly and is compellingly told. Krakauer has, in my view, been reasonably scrupulous in seeking a range of views and recollections and relatively honest about his own perceived shortcomings - he is also candid about the difficulties involved in piecing together an accurate picture from the recollections of cold, tired, frightened and oxygen-deprived people in stress - or of in being overly critical of their decisions with 20/20 hindsight. While one would have to read a work from an opposing viewpoint such as The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest to form a definitive opinion of the actions of Andrei Boukreev, for example, Krakauer's criticism of Boukreev's actions before the disaster appears measured and objective (and gives space to opposing interpretations) while acknowledging his heroic and superhuman rescue efforts during the storm. Some of the one-star reviews attacking Krakauer on this front appear a bit unreasonable and unwilling to consider that Boukreev's heroism doesn't rule out inadequate planning or cooperation beforehand.

The most disappointing aspect of "Into Thin Air" is the authors tendency to conflate relatively trivial virtues (being an amusing dinner companion, having agreeable political views, or being able to climb a mountain well) with more fundamental human virtues - which seems to be a fairly common trait in works of this nature. If you are a better climber and a more entertaining companion than the next guy/girl on the rope, then you are a better person and that's it. As a consequence, he comes across as relatively shallow and banal, and never really engages with some of the more fundamental moral questions posed by events on Everest that climbing season, when a number of climbers in distress were either ignored, given insufficient help or pushed beyond their limits in order not to compromise what is, ultimately, a fairly empty achievement to let somebody die for. While no particularly profound thinker himself, Joe Simpson does a far better job of challenging this mental climate in Dark Shadows Falling.

Somewhere between three and a half and four stars (I marked it down to three only because there are so many 4/5 star reviews posted already). Certainly far more interesting and memorable than the authors Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains, which also seems interested in trivial personal qualities at the expense of more important ones.

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Most recent customer reviews

A fascinating, heart-breaking story, beautifully written.

If I had ever wanted to climb Everest I no longer do after reading this book! But I also could not put it down.

Published 1 day ago by Glenn Ellmers

Excellent book!!!

I had never heard of this tragedy on Mt. Everest. I picked up there book because I had previously read 2 of this author's books, Into the Wild and Missoula.Read more

Published 5 days ago by Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Incredible book.

Published 5 days ago by Amazon Customer

What a captivating book

Wow! This is an incredibly well-written and well-researched book that I flew through due to not wanting to put it down.Read more

Published 5 days ago by Kindle Customer

You don't need any knowledge of climbing to understand & appreciate this

I know next to nothing about climbing or Everest, save for having a distant friend going there recently for the easier, lower-altitude climbs.Read more

Published 8 days ago by MisterPlow

Would highly recommend this book. Well researched and delivery was great.

I have been trying to get back into reading more regularly as various work commitments have been getting in the way, but this is the book that sparked it for me.Read more

Published 10 days ago by Andrew

Into Thin Air

Great story and well told by author.

Published 13 days ago by douglas miller

Second time

This is the second time I've read this as I just returned from a visit to base camp on Everest's north side. Needed to refresh my memory.

Published 13 days ago by Amazon Customer

Well worth the read

Great story about a stupid sport - but enlightening and fascinating.

Published 14 days ago by Chris King

A great book. I picked up a papper back copy ...

A great book. I picked up a papper back copy in a hotel in Quito. Spent the night reading, I had it read by the time I got to Houston. Abdsoulty a good book!

Published 15 days ago by H WINTERS From Oklahoma

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