Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
by Jon Krakauer
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Description
A history of Mount Everest expedition is intertwined with the disastrous expedition the author was a part of, during which five members were killed by a hurricane-strength blizzard. When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing show more doggedly toward the top. No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were in a desperate struggle for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated. Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people - including himself - to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eye-witness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
marzipanz It may seem like an obvious recommendation, but I would really urge everybody to read The Climb instead of or in addition to Into Thin Air. It really sheds a completely new light on some of what Krakauer writes, and - to me - seemed a far more convincing account of some of the events.
oregonobsessionz While The Climb is not an easy read like Into Thin Air, it does provide a different perspective on the disaster, and answers some of Krakauer's criticisms of Boukreev's actions.
bluepiano I may be the only reader of Krakauer's book who thought Boukreev came across as a hero in it. The Climb is a heartening reminder that experience, intelligence, and calm can be the makings of heroism, and it's quite interesting as well.
Also recommended by coclimber
81
BookWallah If you liked Into Thin Air, then you are ready for the mountaineering classic, Everest: The West Ridge. This sparse first person account of the other American team that came after Whitaker in 1963 and put up a route that has seldom been repeated.
40
PamFamilyLibrary Who would guess, but going down into the Super Caves is as dangerous as going up K2 or Everest.
20
Sandydog1 If you want some background on "what makes Krakauer tick", do check out his earlier stories.
Also recommended by fichtennadel
20
Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson
alaskabookworm Couldn't put "Shadow Divers" down; one of my favorite nonfiction adventure books of all time.
20
sweetbug Both stories of mountaineering adventures gone terribly, terribly wrong.
20
normandie_m The events in this book re-opened discussion of the controversies surrounding the 1996 disaster. Heil examines similar themes, particularly the ethical dilemma of whether or not to offer assistance to/rescuing sick climbers when one's own health and supplies such as oxygen are depleted.
jan.fleming It's the summit of K2, 1 August 2008. An exhausted band of climbers pump their fists into the clear blue sky - joining the elite who have conquered the world's most lethal mountain. But as they celebrate, far below them an ice shelf collapses and sweeps away their ropes. They don't know it yet, but they will be forced to descend into the blackness with no lines. Of the thirty who set out, eleven will never make it back. Following the stories of climbers from around the world, "No Way Down" weaves a tale of human courage, folly, survival and devastating loss. The stories are heart-wrenching: the young married couple whose rope was torn apart by an avalanche, sending the husband to his death; the 61-year-old Frenchman who called his family from near the summit to say he wouldn't make it home. So what drove them to try to conquer this elusive peak? And what went wrong that fateful day?
ethanw these guys were really cold too! Both books are excellently written and paced.
SqueakyChu Both are about the ascent to the top of Mount Everest - one is historical fiction; the other is non-fiction,
Member Reviews
I had to stop reading this while eating because the stress was giving me stomach cramps. The author's writing is so vivid, so compelling, and the story is truly horrifying. In the Prologue the author explains that he wrote the book so soon after the disaster in part to help himself process everything that took place up there, and I could really feel that come through in his writing (this is not a criticism, it is a compliment). Grappling with the choices everyone made, how people's flaws or prejudices or bravery or tenacity played a role, would absolutely require some heavy-duty processing for a survivor, and it makes for fascinating reading. Highly, highly recommend.
In the mid 1990s, Krakauer was sent as a journalist to join an guided expedition to the top of Mount Everest. Things go massively wrong and twelve people lose their lives. This is, as perhaps should be expected, an extremely difficult book to get through. The history and mechanics of climbing Everest and mountaineering in general are fascinating, but this is clearly the tale of one man’s struggle with grief and loss - a tragedy that is, to me, completely senseless. There’s no necessity to summit Everest. I get why people do it, but there’s nothing noble in dying to do so. I’m not usually interested in sad stories, but the personality of Krakauer’s writing kept me going. The details are shared with such frankness and intimacy show more that I felt like I was there. Would I recommend this book? Sure, as long as you understand what you’re getting yourself into: there’s no redemption, no happy ending. As such, it should be required reading for anyone planning to scale a major peak, even with a guide. It is not something to be undertaken lightly. Neither, for that matter, is this book, though in a completely different sense. show less
When journalist Jon Krakauer got a magazine assignment to cover the 1996 Mount Everest climbing season from base camp, he convinced the magazine to cover his expenses to join one of the climbing groups. Little did he know that it would be such a deadly season, and he would be lucky to survive the experience. His personal account of the disaster was published months afterward. He mentions in the introduction that several friends had advised him to wait two or three years before writing this book to gain the perspective that comes from time. When I read that, I thought that I would have been one of those urging him to wait, and I had that in mind as I read the book. By the time I finished the postscript, I realized that I was wrong. If show more Krakauer had waited much longer to write this book, he wouldn’t have been able to interview some of the survivors of the Everest expedition because they died in other accidents not long afterward.
What surprised me most about the book is just how many people were on and around the mountain. I’ve always thought of Mount Everest as an isolated place that few people visit. In Krakauer’s description, it sounds like it’s close to being overcrowded, and that’s a safety issue. show less
What surprised me most about the book is just how many people were on and around the mountain. I’ve always thought of Mount Everest as an isolated place that few people visit. In Krakauer’s description, it sounds like it’s close to being overcrowded, and that’s a safety issue. show less
I just ...
I just don't like Krakauer. I don't know why not, and it shouldn't matter one way or another -- he isn't at reasonable fault for anything that happened, even taking his account with a grain of salt and the understanding that the human mind will re-write the truth to gain comfort.
But. Okay. Here's the thing. Maybe this will explain it a little.
Krakauer mentions towards the very end of this book that until returning from Everest, he had never been to a funeral nor seen a dead body -- he was forty-two at the time. And i don't have answers here, i only have a question, about what this says of a man who routinely risks his life on mountains but flinches from the natural end of his own decisions.
I just don't like Krakauer. I don't know why not, and it shouldn't matter one way or another -- he isn't at reasonable fault for anything that happened, even taking his account with a grain of salt and the understanding that the human mind will re-write the truth to gain comfort.
But. Okay. Here's the thing. Maybe this will explain it a little.
Krakauer mentions towards the very end of this book that until returning from Everest, he had never been to a funeral nor seen a dead body -- he was forty-two at the time. And i don't have answers here, i only have a question, about what this says of a man who routinely risks his life on mountains but flinches from the natural end of his own decisions.
As he has proven in his other books, Jon Krakauer is an excellent writer, regardless of his subject matter. Whether he’s telling the story of a misguided young man who idealistically (and fatally) heeds the call of untamed wilderness (Into the Wild), the incredible saga of the history of Mormonism and its bizarre modern legacy (Under the Banner of Heaven), or the deadly consequences of the commercialization of mountaineering excursions on Mount Everest (Into Thin Air), Krakauer uses language impeccably.
In the case of the current book, this exquisite use of language is particularly horrifying, since it’s impossible to ignore the gruesome conditions that confront him and his numerous companions during their attempt to ascend Everest. show more As Krakauer typically does, he provides an illuminating context for his story with some history of our fascination with the mountain and previous attempts (both successful and unsuccessful) to climb it. And then he relates a harrowing account of his time climbing Everest. The story (and the ensuing controversy it caused) is by now well known, and it left me with one overwhelming reaction—why on earth would anyone attempt to do this? The brutal cold. The innumerable risks. The unpredictable obstacles. Is there no other way to reap the alleged psychic benefits of having scaled Everest? Perhaps it’s something only hardcore climbers can understand, but no amount of money or glory in the world could convince me to go anywhere near that mountain. I’m happy to have simply read about it. show less
In the case of the current book, this exquisite use of language is particularly horrifying, since it’s impossible to ignore the gruesome conditions that confront him and his numerous companions during their attempt to ascend Everest. show more As Krakauer typically does, he provides an illuminating context for his story with some history of our fascination with the mountain and previous attempts (both successful and unsuccessful) to climb it. And then he relates a harrowing account of his time climbing Everest. The story (and the ensuing controversy it caused) is by now well known, and it left me with one overwhelming reaction—why on earth would anyone attempt to do this? The brutal cold. The innumerable risks. The unpredictable obstacles. Is there no other way to reap the alleged psychic benefits of having scaled Everest? Perhaps it’s something only hardcore climbers can understand, but no amount of money or glory in the world could convince me to go anywhere near that mountain. I’m happy to have simply read about it. show less
In 1996, Jon Krakauer attempted to climb Mt. Everest as part of a guided group for a writing assignment for Outside magazine. An experienced climber in the hands of a reputable group of guides, he didn't really foresee any problems. Go, climb the mountain, hope conditions allowed them to reach the summit, go home, write the article. But things are rarely that easy. A storm blows up, reminding everyone that nature laughs at our best-laid plans; some questionable decisions are made; and suddenly the entire group is fighting for their lives.
I've decided to try reading a non-fiction book in bed at night, thinking that I won't be quite as interested in non-fiction, and so will find it easy to put those books down and get to bed at a decent show more hour. This is the first book I grabbed from the library with that in mind. Ha! I don't know if I could have picked a worse book for tame, before-bed reading!
My poor husband has had to listen to me babble on and on about people he knows nothing about as I've made my way through this page-turner. Even if the climb had been fairly straight-forward, I found it interesting to read about what drove these people, how they acclimated to the altitude, and how exactly one manages to climb the highest peak on Earth. I know nothing about mountain-climbing, and, while I did find all this fascinating, I have to say that I'll be staying in my tame little Appalachians doing easy to moderate hikes. I'm not someone who likes to push myself beyond my limits, but it's always nice to step outside your comfort zone, even if it is through the pages of a book, and see what's going on with others who live differently than you.
There were so very many people climbing the mountain that I completely lost track of who was who. I had the head guides down, and one or two people who really stood out, but they really did start to run together. There is a list of who's who at the beginning of the book, but, in this edition at least, it only lists names, nationalities, and which group they were on. Not much to go on there.
It amazed me how many people climb Everest at one time. My edition only had a handful of pictures, but there were literal lines to get up certain sections of the mountain. I imagined that it would be your very small group and that would be it as far as you could see. But there are the bottlenecks, and even as they're blundering about in the storm, random people would suddenly pop up out of nowhere to ask for directions back to camp. It sounds comparatively crowded up there!
I don't know how it is now, but Krakauer even mentions the literal tons of trash littering the slopes of Everest and some of the cleanups that were underway around that time. I understand that you don't want extra weight on a climb like that, but, come on. Pack it out. I hope it's been cleaned up more in the 15 years since this book was published.
I at first thought this was a book my husband would enjoy. Then I realized that there were a few too many mistakes being made. As I told my husband about the book, he just said, "I can't read that. I don't have patience for that kind of thing." And he doesn't. Being a perfectionist, he does have a hard time reading about what might appear to be stupid mistakes.
Which brings me to my last point. It's very easy to sit in my snug little house under my comfy blanket and with a mug of tea by my side and believe that these people made some stupid mistakes. But, for me at least, Krakauer did a good job of explaining that you just can't think straight at that altitude. I was able to keep that in mind, read it as an adventure story with tragedy at its heart, and withhold judgment. Others, like my husband, may not be able to step back and do that. So, I say, withhold judgment yourself until you've been in their position. People paid for mistakes with their lives, some of the survivors feel guilty, and that's the end of that. No one else needs to throw stones.
I highly recommend this if you don't think you're too much of a perfectionist to be put off by it. Just don't try to read it before bed unless you do want to be awake all night, turning pages! show less
I've decided to try reading a non-fiction book in bed at night, thinking that I won't be quite as interested in non-fiction, and so will find it easy to put those books down and get to bed at a decent show more hour. This is the first book I grabbed from the library with that in mind. Ha! I don't know if I could have picked a worse book for tame, before-bed reading!
My poor husband has had to listen to me babble on and on about people he knows nothing about as I've made my way through this page-turner. Even if the climb had been fairly straight-forward, I found it interesting to read about what drove these people, how they acclimated to the altitude, and how exactly one manages to climb the highest peak on Earth. I know nothing about mountain-climbing, and, while I did find all this fascinating, I have to say that I'll be staying in my tame little Appalachians doing easy to moderate hikes. I'm not someone who likes to push myself beyond my limits, but it's always nice to step outside your comfort zone, even if it is through the pages of a book, and see what's going on with others who live differently than you.
There were so very many people climbing the mountain that I completely lost track of who was who. I had the head guides down, and one or two people who really stood out, but they really did start to run together. There is a list of who's who at the beginning of the book, but, in this edition at least, it only lists names, nationalities, and which group they were on. Not much to go on there.
It amazed me how many people climb Everest at one time. My edition only had a handful of pictures, but there were literal lines to get up certain sections of the mountain. I imagined that it would be your very small group and that would be it as far as you could see. But there are the bottlenecks, and even as they're blundering about in the storm, random people would suddenly pop up out of nowhere to ask for directions back to camp. It sounds comparatively crowded up there!
I don't know how it is now, but Krakauer even mentions the literal tons of trash littering the slopes of Everest and some of the cleanups that were underway around that time. I understand that you don't want extra weight on a climb like that, but, come on. Pack it out. I hope it's been cleaned up more in the 15 years since this book was published.
I at first thought this was a book my husband would enjoy. Then I realized that there were a few too many mistakes being made. As I told my husband about the book, he just said, "I can't read that. I don't have patience for that kind of thing." And he doesn't. Being a perfectionist, he does have a hard time reading about what might appear to be stupid mistakes.
Which brings me to my last point. It's very easy to sit in my snug little house under my comfy blanket and with a mug of tea by my side and believe that these people made some stupid mistakes. But, for me at least, Krakauer did a good job of explaining that you just can't think straight at that altitude. I was able to keep that in mind, read it as an adventure story with tragedy at its heart, and withhold judgment. Others, like my husband, may not be able to step back and do that. So, I say, withhold judgment yourself until you've been in their position. People paid for mistakes with their lives, some of the survivors feel guilty, and that's the end of that. No one else needs to throw stones.
I highly recommend this if you don't think you're too much of a perfectionist to be put off by it. Just don't try to read it before bed unless you do want to be awake all night, turning pages! show less
Into Thin Air is a graphically horrifying depiction of both the adventurous and well-trained mountain climbers and the very rich and very bored who prey upon the former in their quest for celebrity. You and I may not have the same all-encompassing drive to do that which most people would dismiss as foolish impetuosity and a certain death wish but Jon Krakauer does an exceptional job making us understand what drives these people to climb the highest, move the fastest, fly the highest. We can stay comfortably in our safe chairs and still experience the ecstatic highs, the abject fear, the cold and misery of the bravest (or craziest) among us.
Krakauer is a long-time writer for adventure-type magazines and his experience displays well here. show more The reader may already know the outcome but that does not lessen the extreme enjoyment of the adventure. show less
Krakauer is a long-time writer for adventure-type magazines and his experience displays well here. show more The reader may already know the outcome but that does not lessen the extreme enjoyment of the adventure. show less
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ThingScore 100
An experienced climber himself, Mr. Krakauer gives us both a tactile appreciation of the dangerous allure of mountaineering and a compelling chronicle of the bad luck, bad judgment and doomed heroism that led to the deaths of his climbing companions.
added by Shortride
it is impossible to finish this book unmoved and impossible to forget for a moment that its author would have given anything not to have to write it.
added by mikeg2
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Author Information
29+ Works 52,246 Members
Jon Krakauer was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on April 12, 1954. He received a degree in environmental studies from Hampshire College in Massachusetts in 1976. He worked as a carpenter, fisherman, and writer. He articles on mountain climbing appeared in several publications including GQ, National Geographic, Architectural Digest, Playboy, The show more New Yorker, and Rolling Stone. In 1996, he climbed Mt. Everest, but a storm took the lives of four of the five teammates who reached the summit with him. An analysis of the calamity he wrote for Outside magazine received a National Magazine Award. An article he wrote for Smithsonian about volcanology received the 1997 Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism. He is the author of several books including Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster; Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith; Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman; Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way; and Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town. His book, Into the Wild, was made into a movie in 2007. He is also the editor of the Modern Library Exploration series. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Has the adaptation
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Tunn luft : en insidesskildring av tragedin på Mount Everest
- Original title
- Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
- Original publication date
- 1997
- People/Characters
- Jon Krakauer; Rob Hall; Scott Fischer; Andy Harris; Anatoli Boukreev; Beck Weathers
- Important places
- Mount Everest / Sagarmatha; Himalayas; Alaska, USA; China; Nepal; Seattle, Washington, USA
- Important events
- 1996 Mount Everest Disaster
- Related movies
- Into Thin Air: Death on Everest (1997 | IMDb); Everest (2015 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- Men play at tragedy because they do not believe in the reality of the tragey which is actually being staged in the civilised world. —José Ortega y Gasset
- Dedication
- For Linda; and in memory of Andy Harris, Doug Hansen, Rob Hall, Yasuko Namba, Scott Fischer, Ngawang Topche Sherpa, Chen Yu-Nana, Bruce Herrod, and Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa
- First words
- Straddling the top of the world, one foot in China and the other in Nepal, I cleared the ice from my oxygen mask, hunched a shoulder against the wind, and stared absently down at the vastness of Tibet.
- Quotations
- Getting to the top of any given mountain was considered much less important than how one got there: prestige was earned by tackling the most unforgiving routes with minimal equipment, in the boldest style imaginable. John Kra... (show all)kauer
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Beidleman paused. "But I can't help thinking about Yasuko," he said when he resumed, his voice hushed. "She was so little. I can still feel her fingers sliding across my biceps, and then letting go. I never even turned to look back."
- Blurbers
- Perrin, Jim; Salkelk, Audrey
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 796.522092
- Canonical LCC
- GV199.44.E85
- Disambiguation notice
- Please distinguish between print editions of Jon Krakauer's 1997 memoir, Into Thin Air, and the abridged audio version. Thank you.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
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- Sports and Leisure, General Nonfiction, Travel, Biography & Memoir, Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 796.522092 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Athletic and outdoor sports and games Outdoor leisure Walking and exploring by kind of terrain Mountains, hills and rocks standard subdivisions History, geographic treatment, biography
- LCC
- GV199.44 .E85 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Recreation. Leisure Recreation. Leisure Outdoor life. Outdoor recreation Hiking. Pedestrian tours
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