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Jon Krakauer

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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#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."

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Anchor
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October 19, 1999
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0385494785
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978-0385494786
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Popular Highlights in this book

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My hunger to climb had been blunted, in short, by a bunch of small satisfactions that added up to something like happiness.
Highlighted by 2,096 Kindle readers
But at times I wondered if I had not come a long way only to find that what I really sought was something I had left behind.
Highlighted by 1,890 Kindle readers
And thus, shortly before noon on May 29, 1953, did Hillary and Tenzing become the first men to stand atop Mount Everest.
Highlighted by 1,017 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Krakauer] has produced a narrative that is both meticulously researched and deftly constructed. Unlike the expedition, his story rushes irresistibly forward. But perhaps Mr. Krakauer's greatest achievement is his evocation of the deadly storm, his ability to re-create its effects with a lucid and terrifying intimacy." —Alastair Scott, The New York Times Book Review

"This is a great book, among the best ever on mountaineering.  Gracefully and efficiently written, carefully researched, and actually lived by its narrator, it shares a similar theme with another sort of book, a novel called "The Great Gatsby." —The Washington Post

"Into Thin Air ranks among the great adventure books of all time." —The Wall Street Journal

"Krakauer is an extremely gifted storyteller as well as a relentlessly honest and even-handed journalist, the story is riveting and wonderfully complex in its own right, and Krakauer makes one excellent decision after another about how to tell it.... To call the book an adventure saga seems not to recognize that it is also a deeply thoughtful and finely wrought philosophical examination of the self." —Elle

"Hypnotic, rattling.... Time collapses as, minute by minute, Krakauer rivetingly and movingly chronicles what ensued, much of which is near agony to read.... A brilliantly told story that won't go begging when the year's literary honors are doled out." —Kirkus Reviews

"Though it comes from the genre named for what it isn't (nonfiction), this has the feel of literature: Krakauer is Ishmael, the narrator who lives to tell the story but is forever trapped within it.... Krakauer's reporting is steady but ferocious.  The clink of ice in a glass, a poem of winter snow, will never sound the same." —Mirabella

"Into Thin Air is a remarkable work of reportage and self-examination.... And no book on the 1996 disaster is likely to consider so honestly the mistakes that killed his colleagues." —Newsday

"A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism." —People

"In this movingly written book, Krakauer describes an experience of such bone-chilling horror as to persuade even the most fanatical alpinists to seek sanctuary at sea level." —Sports Illustrated

From the Inside Flap

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."

From the Back Cover

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 guideAnatoli 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 afterchallenging 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."

About the Author

JON KRAKAUER is the author of eight books and has received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. According to the award 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."

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

In March 1996, Outside Magazine sent me to Nepal to participate in, and write about, a guided ascent of Mount Everest. I went as one of eight clients on an expedition led by a well-known guide from New Zealand named Rob Hall. On May 10 I arrived on top of the mountain, but the summit came at a terrible cost.

Among my five teammates who reached the top, four, including Hall, perished in a rogue storm that blew in without warning while we were still high on the peak. By the time I'd descended to Base Camp nine climbers from four expeditions were dead, and three more lives would be lost before the month was out.

The expedition left me badly shaken, and the article was difficult to write. Nevertheless, five weeks after I returned from Nepal I delivered a manuscript to Outside, and it was published in the September issue of the magazine. Upon its completion I attempted to put Everest out of my mind and get on with my life, but that turned out to be impossible. Through a fog of messy emotions, I continued trying to make sense of what had happened up there, and I obsessively mulled the circumstances of my companions' deaths.

The Outside piece was as accurate as I could make it under the circumstances, but my deadline had been unforgiving, the sequence of events had been frustratingly complex, and the memories of the survivors had been badly distorted by exhaustion, oxygen depletion, and shock. At one point during my research I asked three other people to recount an incident all four of us had witnessed high on the mountain, and one of us could agree on such crucial facts as the time, what had been said, or even who had been present. Within days after the Outside article went to press, I discovered that a few of the details I'd reported were in error. Most were minor inaccuracies of the sort that inevitably creep into works of deadline journalism, but one of my blunders was in no sense minor, and it had a devastating impact on the friends and family of one of the victims.

Only slightly less disconcerting than the article's factual errors was the material that necessarily had to be omitted for lack of space. Mark Bryant, the editor of Outside, and Larry Burke, the publisher, had given me an extraordinary amount of room to tell the story: they ran the piece at 17,000 words -- four or five times as long as a typical magazine feature. Even so, I felt that it was much too abbreviated to do justice to the tragedy. The Everest climb had rocked my life to its core, and it became desperately important for me to record the events in complete detail, unconstrained by a limited number of column inches. This book is the fruit of that compulsion.

The staggering unreliability of the human mind at high altitude made the research problematic. To avoid relying excessively on my own perceptions, I interviewed most of the protagonists at great length and on multiple occasions. When possible I also corroborated details with radio logs maintained by people at Base Camp, where clear thought wasn't in such short supply. Readers familiar with the Outside article may notice discrepancies between certain details (primarily matters of time) reported in the magazine and those reported in the book; the revisions reflect new information that has come to light since publication of the magazine piece.

Several authors and editors I respect counseled me not to write the book as quickly as I did; they urged me to wait two or three years and put some distance between me and the expedition in order to gain some crucial perspective. Their advice was sound, but in the end I ignored it -- mostly because what happened on the mountain was gnawing my guts out. I thought that writing the book might purge Everest from my life.

It hasn't, of course. Moreover, I agree that readers are often poorly served when an author writes as an act of catharsis, as I have done here. But I hoped something would be gained by spilling my soul in the calamity's immediate aftermath, in the roil and torment of the moment. I wanted my account to have a raw, ruthless sort of honesty that seemed in danger of leaching away with the passage of time and the dissipation of anguish.

Some of the same people who warned me against writing hastily had also cautioned me against going to Everest in the first place. There were many, many fine reasons not to go, but attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically irrational act -- a triumph of desire over sensibility. Any person who would seriously consider it is almost by definition beyond the sway of reasoned argument.

The plain truth is that I knew better but went to Everest anyway. And in doing so I was a party to the death of good people, which is something that is apt to remain on my conscience for a very long time.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor; Reprint edition (October 19, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 332 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385494785
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385494786
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 years and up
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1320L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.82 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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In 1999 Jon Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. According to the award 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."

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Survivor's guilt

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 26, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book was recommended to me by people who knew that I am a backpacker. If I didn’t know it before reading this book, I quickly realized that there are huge differences between backpacking and mountaineering (not the least of which is cost: $65,000 for permit/guide/sherpa services for one person to climb Everest in 1996 compared to a $15 permit to backpack the John Muir Trail in 2021).

Some reviewers have suggested that the author could have done more to try to save the lives of the nine climbers who died on Everest in May, 1996. The author makes it clear that he will always be haunted by survivor’s guilt – partly because Rob Hall, the leader of his group (Adventure Consultants), took on some risks that he might have resisted without having the journalist along. But he also makes it clear that it took all his physical abilities and his will to survive the descent of Mount Everest. As with most - if not all - of the other members of the expeditions, Mr. Krakauer had no energy left to pursue the missing climbers and he was probably not coherent enough to realize that they were missing.

Mr. Krakauer admits that most of the gear was carried by sherpas, and his own backpack held little more than a jacket, a few candy bars, and his camera. This makes the reader wonder if the constant nausea that he felt would have been mitigated with healthier food (trail mix or beef jerky?). And if the author carried a camera, why are there no photographs in this book? I only read the Kindle version, and it is likely that the hardcover or paperback versions did have photographs.

The author demonstrates his humility and economic illiteracy by inserting an incident that occurred on the hike to the base camp. Beck Weathers, another member of the Adventure Consultants team, was discussing the futility of minimum wage laws, and Mr. Krakauer suggested that raising the minimum wage might be a good idea; then admits that Mr. Weathers “made hash out of [his] fumbling avowal.” Disagreeing with Beck Weathers was a mistake because there is no good argument to support minimum wage laws, but the author probably inserted this anecdote to show that a relationship that started out with acrimony ultimately grew close as they shared the Everest experience.

Mr. Krakauer directs some criticisms and praise to Anatoli Boukreev, a Russian who served as guide for the Mountain Madness expedition team that attempted to summit Everest the same day as Krakauer and his Adventure Consultants team. He criticizes Boukreev for climbing without oxygen (it is not unusual for strong climbers like Boukreev to climbing solo or with other strong climbers to eschew oxygen tanks; but when serving as a guide for weaker climbers, the extra strength provided by oxygen is considered appropriate) and for descending from the summit ahead of the clients. He also praises Mr. Boukreev for going out into the storm to try to rescue lost climbers. In 1997, Mr. Boukreev collaborated with G. Weston DeWalt to write “The Climb.” This book differed from “Into Thin Air” in several aspects and portrayed Mr. Boukreev’s actions in a more favorable light. A feud erupted between the authors and this feud is summarized in Mr. Krakauer’s extensive, 40-page postscript. Mr. Krakauer directs most of his criticism toward Mr. DeWalt for not performing more research, not interviewing more people, and not correcting the errors that Mr. Krakauer documented and requested in later editions of “The Climb.” Mr. Krakauer also tried to reconcile with Mr. Boukreev, but unfortunately Mr. Boukreev died in a Christmas Day 1997 avalanche in the Himalayas. The last sentence of the postscript was the opinion of Italian Simone Moro, Boukreev’s climbing partner: ““When judging the decisions made by Anatoli in 1996 you must remember this: no clients on his team died.” I commend Mr. Krakauer for resisting the urge to add, “Yes, but Scott Fischer, the Mountain Madness expedition leader, did die.”

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Aletheia Knights

Peaks . . . and depths

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 29, 2015

Verified Purchase

Almost twenty years ago, journalist Jon Krakauer joined a guided expedition to the top of Mount Everest, led by accomplished high-altitude climber and guide Rob Hall. Ostensibly on assignment to write a magazine piece on the increasing commercialization of Everest, as outfits like Hall's made it possible for climbers with more disposable income than actual mountaineering experience to have a go at the summit, Krakauer knew this might be his only chance to fulfill his own boyhood dream by standing atop the highest mountain on earth. An enthusiastic climber since childhood - though with no experience whatsoever at very high altitudes - he was one of the most technically proficient clients on Hall's team, and on May 10, 1996, he made it to the summit. On the way back down the mountain, however, Hall's group was one of several expeditions caught up suddenly in a violent snowstorm. Krakauer, farther down the mountain than most of his teammates when the storm hit, made it safely back to the tents before he collapsed in exhaustion. He woke to discover that triumph had given way to terror and tragedy: several guides and clients, including Hall, were still out there in the storm, their bodies becoming increasingly vulnerable to the subzero temperatures as their supplemental oxygen supplies dwindled. "By the time I'd descended to Base Camp," Krakauer reflects in the Introduction, "nine climbers from four expeditions were dead, and three more lives would be lost before the month was out."

"Into Thin Air," written within six months of Krakauer's return from Everest, is the product of his attempts to process exactly what happened up there, how things could go so very wrong and so many very experienced climbers, some of whom had summitted Everest several times before, could have lost their lives: "I thought that writing the book might purge Everest from my life. It hasn't, of course. Moreover, I agree that readers are often poorly served when an author writes as an act of catharsis, as I have done here. But I hoped something would be gained by spilling my soul in the calamity's immediate aftermath, in the roil and torment of the moment. I wanted my account to have a raw, ruthless sort of honesty that seemed in danger of leaching away with the passage of time and the dissipation of anguish." Thanks perhaps to the years spent honing his craft as a writer and his discipline as a journalist with deadlines to meet, Krakauer succeeds brilliantly in what he has set out to do. His account is nowhere rushed, hysterical, or lacking in polish; rather, it's a well-told story, supported by carefully researched background and dozens of interviews with other participants in the events, and Krakauer is so much in control of his narrative that it comes almost as a shock how much of a genuine emotional wallop it packs.

Perhaps only a man who stood on the summit of Everest after years of dreaming, only to regret afterwards that he'd ever gone, could tell this story the way Krakauer does, neither glossing over the dangers of the mountain or the waste of good human lives, nor denying the challenge it poses the human spirit simply by being the highest spot on the earth's surface, simply, in the words of a man who died on Everest decades before, "because it is there." "Into Thin Air" is a thrilling, if sobering, tale of adventure. Let's be honest, reading a book like this is as close as most of us are ever going to get to climbing the great mountain - and Krakauer describes so well the challenges of the terrain, the moments of astonishing beauty, the plodding determination that carries the exhausted body ever onward, the effects of high altitude on the body and mind, that our vicarious ascent in his company is thoroughly satisfying. He brings his fellow climbers alive for us, too, in brief but vivid verbal portraits. We are told not only of their mountaineering prowess, but their determination, their amiability, their families, their human faults and foibles. Even though we've known pretty much all along who dies and who lives (the book is dedicated to the memory of those who died, and a photograph of the mountain between the introduction and first chapter is labeled with a map of their route indicating where major events took place, including several deaths), by the time the storm sweeps in we've come to care about these people, to hope without hope, to mourn their deaths, to celebrate every time a survivor makes it to safety.

Some readers have labeled Krakauer arrogant and accused him of placing blame on everyone but himself, but I didn't find this to be the case. He comes down against the practice of guides leading commercial expeditions of clients without the skills or experience to make the climb without constant hand-holding, but he acknowledges that he himself didn't rightly belong there, and has nothing but praise for the skills of Rob Hall and the other guides he knew personally. He doesn't hesitate to point out errors of judgment that might have facilitated or compounded the perils of the situation, but it's more in the nature of pointing out the fallibility of human nature and the general unreliability of the human brain in a state of hypoxia (which, 8000 meters above sea level, supplemental oxygen can only partially mitigate) than pointing fingers or placing blame. There are no villains (except perhaps Ian Woodall, literally the only one of dozens of people he met on Everest of whom Krakauer had nothing good to say whatsoever, who for no apparent reason denied the use of his radio to help maintain contact with survivors and coordinate rescue attempts), but plenty of heroes: men and women who risked their lives venturing exhausted into a storm to rescue others, who held their own grief at bay to console the dying, who handed over their own precious bottles of oxygen to those in greater need, who calmly coordinated communications and rescue efforts during a time of crisis, or who simply managed to keep breathing when it would have been so much easier and less painful to fall asleep forever in the snow. That some of these fine, heroic men and women made the occasional mistake or bad decision says more about the risky nature of their undertaking than about them as individuals. Krakauer doesn't exempt himself from folly or fallibility, either, and in fact he's far harder on himself than he is on any of the others who were with him on the summit that day, living or dead. And granted that the fortitude, endurance, determination, and self-confidence necessary to tackle Everest tend to come hand-in-hand with a certain swagger and cockiness, Krakauer doesn't come across as particularly arrogant. This is a man who lets his readers see him, in the last chapter, broken by grief and survivor's guilt, lying across a bed naked and high on cannabis, with thick sobs "erupting out of my nose and mouth in a flood of snot."

There's enough controversy surrounding the events on Everest in 1996, and particularly Krakauer's accounting of them, that readers who truly wish to understand what happened on the mountain that sad day probably shouldn't rely on this book alone. Fortunately, a number of other books on the subject exist, including at least four other memoirs by survivors of the disaster. "Into Thin Air," however, remains in any case a good place to start - and a thrilling, if ultimately haunting, read.

38 people found this helpful

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Christopher Allen-Poole

Phenomenal

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 25, 2023

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I loved this book. I struggled to put it down. I am glad the author is still on my "to read" list.

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skybox

Superb adventure story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 18, 2022

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Great adventure story. Since this book was released, I've read it over and over, at least 5 times. Krakauer's account of this disaster on Mt. Everest spares no one, including himself. Terrifying tale of largely privileged climbers trapped at the peak of Everest as a killer storm comes roiling in, and people scramble to descend from this highest peak on earth and save themselves from freezing to death. Many failed. A story of the disaster about the highest possible peak of adventure to see who survives and why. Brilliantly written.

2 people found this helpful

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TidesManian Devil

Ranks top as one of the best books that I have read so far.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 18, 2022

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The full, immersive experience that this book has invoked in me sums up Jon Kraukers ability to convey a soul wretching, breath holding and gut wretching account of the Everest expedition that ended in disaster on that faithfull day that claimed the lives of many mortal souls, mortal souls, like all other mortals who dared to challenge Everest's unrellenting, unforgiving turmoil to summit its top. This combined with Kraukers wittiness and zest as a writer makes this book rank indefinetly as one of the top books that I have read all time.

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Jake

Fascinating and tragic

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2023

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What a great read about the terribly sad haunting expedition. May their souls rest in peace and may the survivors continue to find peace.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 3, 2023

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Heart wrenching account of one man’s perception of wider happened that dreadful day…a bunch of small errors came together to contribute to this tragedy..

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millhall

Tragedy on the top of the world.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 28, 2018

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I have climbed all of the highest mountains in Scotland. I have been on those mountains in zero visibility and driving snow. I have been cold, frightened and found decision making difficult. That ocurred at around 4000 feet. Everest is more than 29000 feet. I think it unlikely that anyone can truly know what being on Everest is like without first hand experience. Krakauer paints a graphic picture in his book and yet my lasting memory will be the bitter disputes which followed the climbing tradedy. The account of the climb and the deaths is compelling reading, but I was left with a feeling of real sadness that an attempt to write an honest account met with such criticism. I have read several well known climbing books, and this is one of the most memorable.

24 people found this helpful

Adnan Soysal

This book will take you the mountains

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 6, 2021

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This book made me watch tons of videos about climbing Everest, and mountaineering.
Now I love having a very good understanding of the common route to Everest summit used by commercial expeditions, and challenges of mountaineering,
particularly to the mountains higher than 8.000 meters.

The book is a memoir about Everest disaster where five people out of two expedition groups died in May 1996. Author, Jon Krakauer participated in it, and he was one of the survivors.
He was a writer in the magazine Outsider at the time, and participated in the expedition on the request of the magazine. And he is himself a mountaineer also. This just makes the book very informative, and real.
He wrote his essay about the tragedy in the magazine in September 1996.
And it got back the most response from the readers in the entire history of the magazine.
This was due to two reasons I think. First it was a real eye witness story of the disaster, and
second is that his narrative of the events was controversial since each participator has his own version of the disaster.

So, he came across criticism of unfair reporting, even he is accused of being egoist saving himself and not helping victims. But he also himself felt some doubts on his own version of the story because he might be wrong with some of the things he has written, which could be very sensitive for those who lost their loved ones.
The reason he doubt about himself is that human brain could be unreliable at higher than 8.000 meters with limited oxygen. So he decides to write this book covering entire story as real as and as fair as possible with more investigation.

There are 22 chapters in the book. I think in term of themes it is made up four parts.
First part is introduction which goes until arrival at the base camp at Everest.
Second part is about Base camp and the next two camps.
In these parts author describes the participants in the expedition as they come along the story.
In 1996 May, there were quiet large number of climbing groups made up of around 300 people.
But this book is about two groups.
One of them was Adventure Consultants led by famous mountaineer Rob Hall from New Zealand.
Jon is in this group. Other group one was Mountain Madness led by famous American mountaineer, Scott Fischer.
These two leaders were friends, but also commercial competitors.
There were in total 20 customers in both groups, but together with guides, Nepalese rope fixers, helpers number goes up to 40.
On the day of climbing to summit, both groups moved together.

There is something mysteries in author's writing style that it gives quiet good understanding of the people he is describing. There is sort of rawness beyond realism, coupled with sort of cynicism and sarcasm in his description of people.
This makes reader to have a strong opine on the person he is describing.
Same goes he villages in Nepal on the way to Camps, and the routes between the camps.
And he makes loads of references to climbing history of Everest, special expeditions, accidents, legends of the climbing worlds, technical features of mountaineering.
I almost stop and watched one or more videos for all those references.
Therefore reading went quiet slow pace. But, it just takes you really up to the mountains, and I loved that. So in these early chapters he prepares the reader very well to the disaster part.

In the third apart he covers third and fourth camps, and then climbing to summit and unfolding of events leading to tragedy, and the next day. On the day of climbing to summit, two expedition groups move together. In the next 36 hours leaders of the both groups, one guide, and two customers will be dead.
Jon elaborates on the mistakes, psychology, violation of principles, inconsistencies against initial decisions, egoism, commercial concerns vividly.
Reader would sense that how a human being with all the expertise can be ignorant, irresponsible, egoist when it comes to ACHIVING some commercial or personal success story.

And then in the last part of the book Jon does post disaster evaluation
He looks at back everything happened, reviews them in a judgmental way.
He does this sometimes open ended, sometime for certain.
Here again reader senses that author is very sensitive on fairness, and emotional and concerned about if he would be accused again on unfair, incorrect narration.
But on the other hand he has a stubborn side also keep on insisting on some of his controversial claims. It looks like that another reason he wrote this book is that he has to free himself from this thought of disaster and leave it behind his life.

And before finishing I must say a few words sketched illustrations at the beginning of each chapter.
At first I did not pay attention them too much.
But as I proceed reading and grasping the gravity of situation, particularly psychology, those sketches started getting my attention more and more.
Eventually I loved them and kept staring them a lot.
I can almost say they describe the challenges, and the gravity of the psychological mood may be better than the book. They are just proof of one picture says more than one thousands words.

4 people found this helpful

Book Enthusiast

A must read to understand the 1996 tragedy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 2, 2021

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The author’s own account of the 1996 Everest disaster, of which he was part. An open and honest account of the disaster, his role in it, and the aftermath.

To his credit Krakauer does not shy away from his own mistakes and responsibilities, though does reinforce the ever person for themselves attitude that he also decries. There is speculation about motives and actions that he could not have been party to, but they do not necessarily feel unreasonable. There is tragedy with this, in his mistaken reporting of Harold being alive and then in the way he likely does, causing more pain for the family, but this was done with the best of intentions.

Not a justification of action, or inaction, but an explanation, one that is perhaps hard to completely accept without the experience of being above 8,000m, but is nonetheless compelling and convincing.

Critical of the lack of relevant climbing experience of the other members of the group, his own does not seem that impressive for the scale of challenge presented by Everest.

Self reflective, and enlightening, the reader cannot help but feel drawn to the personalities as the tragedy unfolds, and poor decision making compounds to big impacts.

A must read for anyone who wants to understand more about the 1996 tragedy.

3 people found this helpful

Lady Doom

Interesting insight into the 1996 disaster

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 31, 2018

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I first purchased this book after seeing the film Everest, that portrayed the 1996 disaster, as I wanted to know more about it. Why do people feel the need to risk their lives? What was it about this mountain that drew people? Was the film accurate?

For me, this book helped me understand why people enjoy 'extreme' mountaineering and did explain the draw Everest has on people. I actually found the history of it - from being named the tallest mountain on Earth, to her naming and the repeated attempts to summit, really interesting.

As to whether this book and the film accurately portray the disaster... I will say the film mostly matches this book, and the author makes it clear that this is how he viewed the events, that he was not operating at peak efficiency and that a lot of people made small mistakes which added up to make the disaster.

The book is well written, and for the most part is measured. It mixes analytical with personal to great effect. Though it isn't a happy read it is an interesting one and I'd recommend this to people interested in the film, the mountain, or the sport of climbing.

16 people found this helpful

Victoria

Riveting and Haunting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 17, 2020

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I'm surprised at how riveted I was by Jon Krakauer's haunting account of the tragic events that took place on Everest in 1998. He recounts the minutiae of an Everest expedition, from arriving in Kathmandu to trekking to base camp, and explains in laborious detail how it really is to climb Everest - a subject I didn't realise I was so fascinated by until reading this.

Peppered throughout are references to mountaineers of yore which had me going down the Wikipedia rabbit hole more than once. Although climbing Everest isn't on my bucket list, I find stories of how people push themselves to their physical and mental limits compelling and inspiring. However, Krakauer's account of what happened on May 10 and how four climbers from his team tragically came to lose their lives - the crux of this book - was of course difficult to read.

Much has been made of his criticism of Sandy Pittman and Anatoli Boukreev, but I felt his portrayal of both of them was on the whole handled fairly. Many on the mountain that day made poor decisions in extreme circumstances that led to the final outcome. Krakauer himself doesn't shy away from his own culpability, although it clearly haunts him and must have been painful to write about publicly. If I were to have any criticism of this book, it would be that Krakauer's perception of his abilities and that of others came across at times as hubristic. Whilst I don't refute that many - too many - people attempt Everest without qualified experience (and the mountain has claimed many of those lives), the way Krakauer writes about his own abilities versus that of others felt a little arrogant to me. I also got a little lost later in the book on who was who, which left me puzzled for a while. However neither of these points detract from the fact that this book well and truly got under my skin.

I don't give five stars often and I'm not the most avid reader of non-fiction, but this has been one of my surprise reads this year and I would read it again. I'm considering reading Beck Weathers' book now - that truly is a story of survival.

3 people found this helpful

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