Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Boukreev's The Climb
On the day of May 10, 1996, several climbers were attempting to descend the slopes of Mount Everest in blizzard conditions: a time at which every moment mattered. Emerging from the pack, two climbers reached the safety of the tents of Camp Four before the majority of their teammates. Anatoli Boukreev and Jon Krakauer recounted the situation of that day in very different ways, but Krakauer seemed to portray Boukreev as an antagonist in his book, Into Thin Air. Boukreev proved in his own book, The Climb, that multiple actions called into question by Krakauer were in fact valuable steps that an experienced climber used in order to rescue clients in need.
Krakauer repeatedly scolded Boukreev for not using supplemental oxygen above Camp Four during the summit push on May 10. Krakauer claimed that the lack of oxygen "didn't seem to be in their clients' best interests" (ITA, 186). The journalist seemed to be concerned that Boukreev, as a guide, should use oxygen because it would allow him to function more normally in the case of catastrophe. In fact, Boukreev disputed this point in The Climb, mentioning that he believed given proper acclimatization, it was safer to climb without oxygen. Krakauer himself suffered when he ran out of oxygen just before the South Summit: "entire sectors of my cerebral cortex seemed to have shut down altogether. Dizzy, fearing that I would black out, I was frantic to reach the South Summit." (ITA, 195) Boukreev believed that a climber who suddenly ran out of oxygen after consuming a tank would be in a much worse situation than one who had become used to climbing without gas at all. His decision not to use gas was primarily based on his past experience.
Expedition leader Scott Fischer had allowed Boukreev to summit without oxygen, knowing that he had already reached the top of the world twice without it (ITA, 186). Fischer had even considered reaching the summit without oxygen himself. The Russian climber used the philosophy that "every ounce counts" while ascending a mountain; even the slightest extra weight would have a profound effect on the climbing ability of an individual. Though he did not use oxygen above Camp Four, Boukreev carried a single canister of oxygen with him in case of emergency; he gave it to fellow guide Neal Beidleman when the need arose. Since each canist...
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... only a couple members to even attempt a rescue. These efforts were, for the most part, shrugged off by Krakauer. The Climb offers great detail of Boukreev's forays into the blizzard, and the resulting rescue of a group of climbers huddling together in the frigid temperatures. Both Charlotte Fox and Sandy Hill Pittman, members of the group, were close to dying; Boukreev quoted Lene Gammelgaard as saying, "Sandy very close [to dying]. Maybe if you will find, you will find her dead. And you need hurry." (Climb, 184) Boukreev single-handedly saved all members of the group except climber Yasuko Namba despite the intolerable conditions, a true testament to Boukreev's considerable experience and heroism.
Anatoli Boukreev, despite Jon Krakauer's criticisms, was the most valuable member of the expeditions caught near the summit of Everest on May 10, 1996. His heroism and courage were recognized throughout the climbing community, and these traits warranted a receipt of the American Alpine Club's prestigious David A. Sowles Memorial Award. If more climbers in 1996 were as strong as Boukreev, all of the climbers who ascended in 1996 may have been able to descend safely from Mount Everest.
Throughout the novel, the protagonist encounters many difficulties when trying to reach his goal of climbing Mount Everest. He encounters problems, from illnesses to deaths but most affectively the catastrophic weather. When Krakauer’s 5 friends die, including Rob Hall, Krakauer takes responsibility of the other climbers and helps them get through the tough weather safely. When they arrived to the base camps, many of the climbers gave up but Krakauer kept trying, he was motivated by Halls death to reach the top of Mount Everest. Krakauer finds ways to get around
Imagine feeling guilty for making it out alive on a journey. In the nonfiction novel, Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, he documents his journey to the summits of Mount Everest and ultimately accuses himself of holding responsible for the disaster on the mountain. After realizing only one-fourth of the people that climbed to the summits on May 10, 1996, made it back down to base camp alive, Krakauer theorizes why that was so. He attributes most of the reason for the disaster to the erratic weather, along with hubris, who wanted the thought of leading a group to the mountain. Despite those reasons, there is no ultimate reason for the deaths documented in the book, but bottom line the climbers that died didn’t thoroughly comprehend the danger they were going to encounter as a consequence that contributed to the disaster.
This became the deadliest expedition to ever climb, with 15 people losing their lives. Krakauer explains his intrinsic motivations to accept this challenge and many of the mistakes that helped lead to the disasters of that day. He includes himself, and explicitly blames himself for at least one person's death. The experience affects him profoundly, and in addition to telling the story, the book focuses on how Krakauer is forever changed as a result of what happened. All of the clients have difficulty adjusting to the altitude, tiring easily, losing weight and moving slowly.
Everest is an unbelievable mountain that has taken the lives of a number of the greatest climbers in history. It was my job to ensure that clients make it up that treacherous mountain safely. My name is Rob Hall. I was the main guide and cofounder of a climbing company called Adventure Consultants. My friend, Gary Ball, and I used to be professional climbers. Together we succeeded in climbing to the highest summit on each of the seven continents in seven months. This was our greatest achievement. After this, we decided to start our own company guiding clients up large mountains. In May 1992, we successfully led six clients to the summit of Everest. Unfortunately, Gary died of cerebral edema in October 1993 during an attempt on the world’s sixth-tallest mountain. He died in my arms and the next day I buried him in a crevasse. Despite the pain that his death had caused me, I continued guiding for our company and eventually led thirty-nine climbers to the summit of Everest.
Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, proved the spring’ 96 expedition to Mountain Everest to be the most tragic in mountain history. I believe the storm, and a series of mistakes and the arrogance of human made the deadly result and which breakdowns of the expedition. Many of climbers died on Homologumena, including the very experienced guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. I truly believe the trip was not worth it, because they ended their life, and it was a pain losing their family. The unlimited desires of humans are horrible. Even thought, Rob and Scott had reached the top of Everest, they still wanted to challenge themselves as the water who drinks it will be thirsty again.
Climbing Mt. Everest is an accomplishment that only a limited number of people can say they have accomplished. Despite statistics that illustrate most fail or die trying, numerous people are drawn to the mountain each year and truly believe they can be among that elite group. In the spring of 1996, Jon Krakauer, a journalist for the adventure magazine Outside and a passionate climber himself, was offered the opportunity to climb Mt. Everest. The original offer was to join an Adventure Consultants team led by Rob Hall, a respected and well known guide, climb to base camp and then write a story on the commercialism that had penetrated this incredibly risky but addicting sport. Without much hesitation Krakauer accepted the offer but not to just go to base camp; he wanted the top. The expedition started out as predicted but an unexpected storm the day of the summit push turned this expedition into the most devastating expedition of all time. Krakauer was changed for life; an article on the commercialism surrounding the mountain would no longer suffice. Into Th...
...to the rescue” during most of the desperate situations occurring during the crew’s time on the mountain. The supporting and assisting qualities of oxygen are displayed during times when a climber is low on oxygen, on the brink of hypoxia, but is able to secure a fresh canister of the life-saving gas. However, these qualities can be proven by Fischer’s actions without oxygen. According to the Sherpa, Fischer threatened to “jump down into Tibet,” (227) and was acting like “crazy man” (227). Fischer’s negative stance toward the descent could have been prevented with the use of supplementary oxygen, which would have played the role of supporting and assisting in the descent, and mentally reassuring him. Oxygen also proves that humans are not meant to survive at such high altitudes, and acts as a confidence booster—as long as you are breathing, you are living. (170 words)
In the book “Into Thin Air,” by Jon Krakauer, Jon describes his experience summiting and descending the one and only Mt. Everest. The tallest mountain in the whole world.During his journey he endured many life threatening events such as almost blacking out, getting caught in a storm, and many others. However he was one of the lucky ones, because out of that whole crew, 8 people died. That is the most recorded in one expedition ever.I believe there are two things that contributed to the deaths in this book. The greed of Nepal primarily is a factor, and also the lack of knowledge the people have that seek this rush of climbing Mount Everest. It is not anyone's fault in particular but there is topics to be blamed. A lack of knowledge can mean life or death in many various scenarios.
... Scott’s clients who were sick, instead of a Sherpa, I don’t think he would have been treated so haphazardly’" (113). Had Fischer not had such a lax approach to climbing, a guide would have been with Ngawang Toche and had him down the mountain sooner.
camp Krakauer said to himself, “We’d fucking done it. We’d climbed Everest. It had been a little sketchy there for a while, but in the end everything had turned out great. It would be many hours before I learned that everything had not in fact turned out great, that nineteen men and women were stranded up on the mountain by the storm, caught in a desperate struggle for their lives.” The quote from page 203 makes an attempt to add suspense,and succeeds. After seeing this the reader then starts to get curious about what happened to the rest of the crew, then anticipates rhat many of them are very near death, if they hadn’t already
. On March 1996, Outside magazine hired journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer to write an about the commercialism on Mount Everest. Krakauer decides he would climb the mountain and get a firsthand experience, he set out 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. This proves that this is not an easy expedition, it is one that people risk their lives to do. With a lot of hard work and dedication Jon Krakauer successfully finished the climb and decided he wanted to write more than the article that he was assigned to. This is where Into Thin Air became. It is a book telling the story of the ill-fated adventure and a breakdown of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the various events that occurred. 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 intense and also points out how extremely sorry he was for the ones that los...
What Shakespeare might call the fatal flaw of Fischer’s expedition seemed to be a collective lack of humility amongst his team, stemming of course from the top with Fischer himself, the “face” of the organization. Fischer was an ambitious man who was desperate to earn the respect of his peers, and came across as nothing short of overconfident when he was quoted in Krakauer's Into Thin Air as saying, "Experience is overrated. […] We've got the big E figured out, we've got it totally wired. […] (W)e've built a yellow brick road to the summit." (pp. 85-86) Even Fischer's experienced guide, Anatoli Boukreev, was not immune from pride, opting to make the climb without the use of supplemental oxygen, a decision that was not only completely unnecessary, but arguably ended up costing the lives of members of his team at the summit. Indeed, as Krakauer noted, there was a palpable lack of a team dynamic, a result of the Attraction-Selection-Attrition Theory; the team felt more like a bunch of individuals, all "in it for himself or herself." (Krakauer, p. 213) In a life or death situation, having a strong team dynamic is more important than ever. But Fischer was more interested in the parts, than the whole. As part of Fischer's ambition, he had made an effort to recruit high-profile clients, including a New York socialite who wrote for Allure magazine, and Krakauer himself, who could lend the expedition some heavy publicity, but brought very little by way of experience when it came to summiting a mountain as extreme as Everest.
May 29, 1953, a day in history that will forever be remembered by mankind, where a challenging dream turned into a reality. Sir Edmund Hillary, a boastful and confident climber from New Zealand conquered the world with Tenzing Norgay, a humble and selfless climber from Nepal. The world was brought closer together at 11:30 AM on May 29, 1953 after a final push to climb resulted in the two men doing the impossible, reaching the peak of Mount Everest in Nepal. “View from the Summit” by Sir Edmund Hillary and “The Dream Comes True” by Tenzing Norgay both tell the story of the first successful journey up Mount Everest, but their different perspectives on the events of that day affect our perception of the “true” narrative. Numerous facts are provided,
While climbing, Krakauer would often find himself atop the daily destination before his peers and would generously assist the sherpas on their tasks even though it wasn’t his duty. In contrast, Boukreev would not offer help when arriving before his clients and would often maltreat his sherpas. As a result, the sherpas strongly disliked Anatoli for the duration of the climb and would later “blame him for many of the deaths” that occured at the disaster (nickvanderleek.com). Boukreev’s true character was shown during summit day where in spite of the expectation that he should be helping his clients, he ascended before everyone and, “indeed, by 5:00 p.m., while his teammates were still struggling down through the clouds… Boukreev was resting and drinking tea” (Krakauer 218). Additionally, “Boukreev told Fischer, ‘I am going down with Martin [Adams]’” (Krakauer 211); but “[he] did not stick with Adams as he claimed he would and instead raced down without him” (nickvanderleek.com). As a result, Adams would struggle to make down the mountains and survive the night. Furthermore, albeit Krakauer was not able to help Beck down and instead left him for a more experienced guide as of Mike Groom, “the only role [Boukreev] played was stepping over [Beck’s] body (nickvanderleek.com). Boukreev and Krakauer would both find themselves in their tents
In a May 23rd, 1996 Outside Magazine online chat with Jon Krakauer, a client on a guided expedition and the to-be author of Into Thin Air, an account of the 1996 Everest disaster, expressed his feelings about guiding on Everest. He agreed with a contributor that guides on Everest are bound to their clients and actually are paid to take care of them. He also contributed that, although he was an extremely accomplished climber, he would never consider guiding, if only for the fact that he wouldn’t “want (his) life to be determined by some guy tripping over his crampons and pulling (him) off (the mountain).