Catastrophe on Everest

Jon Krakauer is a writer and adventure seeker. In his book, Into Thin Air he chronicles his expedition to climb Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, for a magazine story and the tragic events that follow.

Krakauer pumped this book out months after the catastrophic events that killed eight climbers as a seeming way to work out his survivor’s remorse and get the story out before it became muffled due to time. He works through what went wrong, who died, and gives a detailed account of what happened. He interviewed those who were there and who knew or heard what happened to get as much perspective as possible. But at 26,000+ feet, judgment and brain function go out the window and huge mistakes are made, as we see in this book.

The book can be disturbing because of details and decisions made throughout the ascent and descent. The hardest part of reading this book, from my perspective, are the mistakes made. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and decision making at sea level where oxygen is plentiful makes all the difference, but when Krakauer talks about leaving people to die, I had objections.

Krakauer’s writing was detailed and the reader gets the idea of what climbing Everest is like: not fun! For most of the book, all I could think was “why?”. I understand wanting to chase your dreams, but when they lead up a mountain full of fatalities where there is a “death zone” (any altitude above 26,000 feet where oxygen is at a third of what it is at sea level), it just seems silly. Man will always push himself to the limit, explore, discover the undiscovered, but to me, climbing Everest seems like either a bucket list assignment or something to brag about. Not worth it in my ever so humble opinion.

When it comes down to it, this was a good book. You get the sense for the distress, inability to make clear decisions, and strain the climbers went through. I felt for Krakauer to a fault. In the book, you read his insecurities and distress over decisions that were made, but at the same time, I had a hard time understanding these decisions. Morals seem to fly out the window at the top of the mountain and people in need are literally stepped over for the sake of a triumphant moment.

If you’re into adventure/travel books, this is a good one. Here are some others you might enjoy:

• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• Dark Summit: The true story of Everest’s most controversial season by Nick Heil
• The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger