Morality In Into Thin Air

In the nonfiction novel Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, morality is a prominent theme of the tragedy. This novel tells of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster from the first person perspective of Krakauer, a surviving climber. Especially on the mountain, morality is often posed as a question of life or death. For example, in chapter 17, Krakauer writes, “.....he turned to see Harris - who must have been seriously debilitated, if his condition when I’d seen him on the South Summit two hours earlier was any indication - plodding slowly up the summit ridge to assist Hall and Hansen”. This line explains the death of Andy Harris, a character who sacrifices himself in a futile attempt to bring oxygen to his team’s head guide, Hall, and to another climber,

Hansen, has gotten themselves stranded high on the mountain. Harris, loyal to his profession as a guide of the expedition and selfless in actions, finds it moral to save his teammates, no matter the consequence. As Krakauer comments, it was indeed “an act of heroism”.

On the other hand, in great contrast to Harris’ perception of morality, there are the ascenders from the Japanese expedition. It is written in chapter 18, “Not wanting to jeopardize their ascent by stopping to assist him, the Japanese team continued climbing toward the summit”. Such line refers to the Japanese climbers’ refusal to assist the dying alpinists from Ladakh and their decision to instead, continue the summit ascent. Believing morality should be non-existent under the harsh mountain conditions, they express selfishness and care solely for themselves. Aside from these 2 cases of morality, Krakauer also questions the actions of Anatoli Boukreev, a guide on another team, a friendly business competitor of Krakauer’s party. In chapter 15, Krauaker writes, “......he moved very rapidly down the Southeast Ridge without waiting for any clients - despite telling Fischer atop the Step that he would be going down with Martin Adams”. Through this line, Boukreev actions are criticized and indirectly, deems him as an irresponsible guide. However, Boukreev defends himself saying that his rapid descent was good for the team as he could be ready to carry oxygen up if the clients run

out. He did indeed save a few dying climbers, but whether his decisions are moral or not is controversial. Morality, though perceived and executed differently by various people, existed as a determining factor of life and death in this tragic Mount Everest assault,