Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

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Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 185,196 ratings · 6,035 reviews

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...more

Paperback, 404 pages

Published August 25th 2009 by Anchor (first published April 22nd 1997)

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Dec 11, 2011 Cassy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: from-dad, physical-own, 2011, non-fiction-general, region-asia

Life got you down? Then join us on a guided expedition led by Capital Stupidity Inc. as we climb to...

The Summit of MOUNT EVEREST

For the bargain price of $65,000,* we will take you on the adventure of a lifetime full of scenic views,** camaraderie,*** and athleticism.****

Worried that you lack the necessary climbing experience?
Don’t be discouraged!***** While Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world, it is not the most technically challenging climb. And in addition to our expertise an...more

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Nov 30, 2010 karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: and-so-this-is-grad-school

RELEASE THE KRAKAUER!!!!

seriously, it is time to just raze everest and be done with it already. i mean, it's big and impressive but it is just taking up all this room and killing people so why do we even need it anymore?? can't we just get over it? really, i think it has reached its peak and is all downhill from here.

shameless punning aside.

so this started out as an article that KRAKAUER was asked to write for outside magazine about the commercialization of everest. it should embarrass us that s...more

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Mar 17, 2009 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: mountaineers, adventure lovers, crazy people

Shelves: non-fiction

This is not a review. I don’t feel like writing a review for this book, but I feel like I should at least say something about it because I did enjoy it. I mean, it did make me utter “Jesus Christ” out loud more than one time, and I don’t often talk to myself while I am reading a book.

(I almost want to post a picture of a LOLcat with a caption that says “This buk wuz gud,” but I don’t have one.)

So…These are a few things I learned from reading this book:

1. If a person decides to climb Everest, the...more This is not a review. I don’t feel like writing a review for this book, but I feel like I should at least say something about it because I did enjoy it. I mean, it did make me utter “Jesus Christ” out loud more than one time, and I don’t often talk to myself while I am reading a book.

(I almost want to post a picture of a LOLcat with a caption that says “This buk wuz gud,” but I don’t have one.)

So…These are a few things I learned from reading this book:

1. If a person decides to climb Everest, they are likely to encounter dead bodies along the route up to the summit.

2. Lobuje, which is on the way to Everest Base Camp, is a place that overflows with human excrement. While Krakauer was there in 1996, he wrote "Huge stinking piles of human feces lay everywhere; it was impossible not to walk in it." Lovely. Insert “Want to get away from it all?” commercial here.

3. Without the assistance of Sherpas, it is unlikely that climbers would be able to reach the summit at all. Besides schlepping tons of your crap, they also know the way, and they place climbing ropes and in some instances, repair ladders, so people will be able to ascend the trickier places.

The place would also be a lot dirtier without them because they are partially responsible for removing some of the trash that Everest has accumulated over the years. One camp reported having around a thousand empty canisters of supplemental oxygen (as I said below in a review comment, so I might as well stick it in here, too).

4. In 1996, it cost $65,000 to be a client on a guided tour climbing Everest.

5. It is very easy to develop high-altitude sicknesses and/or hallucinations as a climber gets closer to the summit. In fact, the "every man/woman for him/herself" attitude that people had, whether or not they had to have it in order to survive, was more than a little disturbing.

On this particular excursion, two climbers got stuck on the mountain during a storm. They spent the night at 28,000 feet without shelter or supplemental oxygen and were believed to be dead. The guide sent to look for them the next day found them barely breathing after chipping off three inches of ice from their faces. Believing that they were beyond help, he left them there. One of the climbers, my personal hero, woke up from his coma hours later and was lucid enough to get himself back down to one of the camps. Sure, he lost half an arm, his nose, and all of the digits on his other hand to frostbite, but he's still alive.

Oh, and sure, the events that happened on Mt. Everest in 1996 were tragic, but I do think the people who climb it know what they are risking. (less)

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Jul 01, 2007 Brigette rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I recently attended the Banff mountain film festival in Canada. One of the key speakers was Simone Moro, the close friend of Anatoli Boukreev, the climber who was killed in an avalanche several years ago on Annapurna and whom Krakauer pretty much vilifies in this book as not having done enough to save the lives of those caught in the blizzard on Mount Everest in May of 1996. Needless to say, the vibe in the room was chilly whenever the subject of Krakauer's version of events came up; he was accu...more I recently attended the Banff mountain film festival in Canada. One of the key speakers was Simone Moro, the close friend of Anatoli Boukreev, the climber who was killed in an avalanche several years ago on Annapurna and whom Krakauer pretty much vilifies in this book as not having done enough to save the lives of those caught in the blizzard on Mount Everest in May of 1996. Needless to say, the vibe in the room was chilly whenever the subject of Krakauer's version of events came up; he was accused of slander and some in the room even claimed that he had not done much himself to save the lives of those in danger during the Everest disaster.

Nevertheless, as a reader of climbing nonfiction, I stand by Krakauer. I have always found his account of the Everest disaster an intensely moving and thought-provoking one. Like Joe Simpson's books, Into Thin Air reveals its speaker to be a climber with a conscience. Kraukauer loves climbing but is completely honest about the fact that such a dangerous sport so often puts one in the agonizing position of having to make life or death decisions under conditions that make clear thinking nearly impossible-- the cold, the lack of oxygen, the immense strain on the body at that great elevation. One gets the sense while reading that he is trying to make sense of this crazy sport as he writes, that this book is his process of figuring out the answer to the question: with all of the dangers and fatalities that result from climbing Everest, why on earth do people actually sign themselves up for this kind of thing?

In the years since I first picked up this book, I have discovered many other great climbing books in the adventure genre, although Krakauer's remains one of my all-time favorites. For more accounts of the Everest disaster, see also Boukreev's The Climb and Beck Weather's Left for Dead. If you enjoy Krakauer's writing, you might also enjoy Nando Parrado's Miracle in the Andes, a true account of the narrow escape of some members of a Uruguayan rugby team that survived by any means necessary-- and I do mean ANY means necessary--two grueling months in the Andes after their plane crashed in the mountains on the way home from a game. In addition, Joe Simpson's Touching the Void is a similarly remarkable story of a climber who survives unlikely odds after breaking his leg on the side of the mountain Siula Grande in Peru. There are also movie versions of both (Titled Alive and Touching the Void, respectively.) In addition, a movie version is due out soon for one of Krakauer's other wilderness adventure books, Into The Wild. (less)

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Apr 23, 2013 Arah-Lynda Hay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Arah-Lynda by: Arah-Leah Hay

Shelves: top, i-said

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.

But it is the way this reads, as Jon Krakauer, a client of R...more

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May 26, 2008 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: for-realz

Read within the span of 10 hours. This is not a hard read, well, if you take out the subject matter.
I picked this up because 'Into the Wild' has been out or on hold for months at the library so I thought I'd at least get a feel for Jon Krakauer's writing style.
I also have to admit that it wasn't the writing style that sold me, not that it isn't well done, but usually I'm not drawn to 'personal accounts' or non-fiction, in general, unless it is a subject that really fascinates me. I'm an escapi...more Read within the span of 10 hours. This is not a hard read, well, if you take out the subject matter.
I picked this up because 'Into the Wild' has been out or on hold for months at the library so I thought I'd at least get a feel for Jon Krakauer's writing style.
I also have to admit that it wasn't the writing style that sold me, not that it isn't well done, but usually I'm not drawn to 'personal accounts' or non-fiction, in general, unless it is a subject that really fascinates me. I'm an escapist and sometimes the reality of all this seeps in and rattles me in ways I'd rather not tap into.
This is very much rubbernecking. I knew that there is no happy ending to this tale, yet I was riveted and sickened the whole way through.
I wasn't drawn so much to the feat of the climb or the determination of the climbers but more to their never ending egos and downright obsession. Their fanatical need to conquer. The fact that these people spend upwards of $65,000 to subject themselves to hypoxia, frostbite, and possible cerebral edemas just makes me shake my head and say 'what the fuck?'

Krakauer states in the first chapter that once reaching the summit, a sheet of ice at 29,028 feet above seal level, he couldn't summon the energy to care. He spent less than 5 minutes on the 'roof of the world' with absolutely no spiritual awakening to speak of.
What makes people do this? What drives them to become so consumed with the thought of scaling a mountain that's killed 1 in 4 climbers since the first summit reach in 1953?

Because it's there.

Which, on its own, I can understand, sort of. But, to get there and not feel the euphoria? That's where I become lost. This passage, in particular, floored me:

"People who don't climb mountains...tend to assume that the sport is a reckless Dionysian pursuit of ever escalating thrills.... The ratio of misery to pleasure was greater by an order of magnitude than any other mountains I'd been on. I quickly came to understand that climbing Everest was primarily about enduring pain."

The fact that the drive to reach the summit had climbers walking over corpses of their peers also is mind-numbing. To think that some of these climbers were so single-minded that they would assess a fellow climber, make the instantaneous decision that they would be nothing more than baggage and refuse to help them sends me spiraling to that survival of the fittest mentality that makes my stomach curl.
This is a freakin' Darwinian rat race.

I need to research this further, the IMAX film has been netflixed and I'm adding the K2 disaster and other stories to my reading list. What a fun summer this will be. (less)

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Feb 01, 2013 Ash rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who like travelling

Shelves: adventure-travel, memoir-biography, movie, own_nf, favorites, 2012-read, pulitzer-prize

I have never read a non-fiction which was literally unputdownable, the way this book was. I just couldnt keep it aside for a minute and finished reading it in 2 days! I dont remember finishing a non-fiction that fast. Now it is one of my all-time favourites.

I love to travel and I am adventurous at heart (even though I have never done anything adventurous in my life). As a result, I reallyyyyy liked this book.

"In order to succeed you must be exceedingly driven, but if you're too driven you're lik...more

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Aug 10, 2008 Idle Hippo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Idle Hippo by: Enjum

Shelves: nonfiksi, book-to-movies

You can always tell you are reading a good book when you find yourself holding your breath during the intense moments. Well, this is definitely one of that book.

Meski gw samasekali buta tentang hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan mendaki gunung, tapi gw sempat punya impian dan hasrat gila untuk mendaki gunung Everest. Setelah membaca buku ini impian dan hasrat tersebut (kalaupun masih ada) kini dipastikan lenyap tanpa bekas. Thanks a lot Mr. Krakauer for make my dream coming to an abrupt end, heuheu....more

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Apr 25, 2009 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: something-i-d-never-do

I had no idea what shelf to put this on. So I made up a new one, lacking the number of characters needed, this shelf should be called, true stories about things I would never do or try to do. But maybe that is a lie. Like Krakauer I too have had a near death experience while engaged in 'climbing', like the doomed people in this book, my own life was possibly endangered by faulty decisions made by those who are being paid to know better. My own experience is pretty undramatic, and was rectified i...more I had no idea what shelf to put this on. So I made up a new one, lacking the number of characters needed, this shelf should be called, true stories about things I would never do or try to do. But maybe that is a lie. Like Krakauer I too have had a near death experience while engaged in 'climbing', like the doomed people in this book, my own life was possibly endangered by faulty decisions made by those who are being paid to know better. My own experience is pretty undramatic, and was rectified in a few moments, and possibly if my parents had been the litigious sorts I could have bankrupted the Boy Scouts, and still be suing them for the experience and blame every anxiety and problem I have on this moment. That would be a huge lie though (my own experience was at summer camp, I didn't want to rappel, but I was talked into trying it, I was tied in, and as I stepped backwards over the lip so that I was on the vertical part of the rock the knots on my harness and carabiener started coming undoing themselves. I freaked. Some teenage kid had tied me in who was assisting the guy in charge. The real guy in charge retied my harness, I for some reason decided to try it again and actually enjoyed it, not that I ever did it again after that, and probably will never try it again).

Seriously though, this book is about people doing something really dangerous and paying the price for it. It's pretty fucked up on all kinds of different levels, and anyone knowing what it's like to climb into the danger zone of high altitude and then goes and does it anyway so that they can say they have stood on the top of the highest mountain of the world, you can't feel too sorry for (or I can't). Sure it's a testament to the human spirit to overcome obstacles, and being able to do this is something I know I would never be able to do (or want to do), and it's pretty amazing that people can do what it takes to climb these high mountains, but it's also really dangerous and people die doing things like this all the time (historically up until 1996, 3% of all people who climbed just above base camp on Everest died, that's not even necessarily the people who made it all the way up to the final reaches near the summit where the events of this book took place).

What I took from this book is that accidents happen, and they can be awful. That being in really high altitudes seriously fucks with you in ways I had no idea about. I also learned that maybe man shouldn't fuck with nature so much for profit, and that maybe commercialization of things alters the perception of real risks involved. Nature and high altitude don't realize that just because you paid big bucks for the ride up to the top that they should lay off and let your trip be like Club Med. I also learned that certain South African's are dicks, and sadly they didn't get to play as much of a role in the narrative as other groups of people, which is a bit sad because there was something absurdly funny about them. (less)

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Jun 30, 2008 Randy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jon Krakauer is a student of extreme behaviors and those who engage in them, and he happened to be on Mt. Everest during the notorious May 10-11, 1996, disaster. A series of seemingly minor mishaps, oversights, and questionable decisions kept climbers moving up the mountain hours later than any reasonable turnaround time. At 29,000 feet, that would have been bad enough given cold, hypoxia, and a finite supply of supplemental oxygen, but an unexpected storm that moved in from the south turned a p...more Jon Krakauer is a student of extreme behaviors and those who engage in them, and he happened to be on Mt. Everest during the notorious May 10-11, 1996, disaster. A series of seemingly minor mishaps, oversights, and questionable decisions kept climbers moving up the mountain hours later than any reasonable turnaround time. At 29,000 feet, that would have been bad enough given cold, hypoxia, and a finite supply of supplemental oxygen, but an unexpected storm that moved in from the south turned a problematic climb into a catastrophe. Several people died, including two widely regarded expedition leaders. Krakauer was one of the stronger climbers that day; he spent only a few minutes on the summit and was on his way to camp when the storm struck. His account of the disaster is gripping, painful, and angry. Krakauer is not shy about offering up criticism of expedition leaders and some fellow climbers, and he discusses his own feelings of guilt as to one guide who died on the mountain. I know nothing about mountain climbing, and I couldn't put this book down.

ETA--I was so fascinated by the book that I looked up dang near everything I could find online about the disaster. I'm not the only one; PBS Frontline ran a special just last month about some of the survivors. Krakauer's book angered a few other participants from his climb; however, their criticisms go to peripheral matters (did guide Anatoli Boudreev behave responsibly in descending before his clients? Was one of the sherpas too busy attending to a Manhattan socialite to perform his other duties properly? Did Krakauer himself collapse while descending the mountain? Could Krakauer have left his tent on the South Col and helped Boudreev's heroic rescue effort on the night of May 10?) and not to the major issues raised in the book. There appears to be broad agreement that Rob Hall and Scott Fischer allowed other concerns, personal and commercial, to take precedence over getting their clients down off the mountain safely. Also, Fischer's judgment may have been seriously impaired by a high-altitude ailment. Moreover, the number of deaths on Everest suggests that there are plenty of people climbing the mountain who have no business being there in the first place. (less)

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Sep 24, 2007 Chris Heaney rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't know how I feel about this book, an account of an expedition to Everest that killed several people. It made me angry when I suspected it would just end up being disaster porn, but Krakauer manages to pull through in the final pages and evoke the wrenching guilt of the survivors, the loss and unanswered questions. That hit me pretty hard.

So why three stars? I wanted more about the people who died, more in other people's voices, and less straight narration of events. (Or perhaps just a mix...more I don't know how I feel about this book, an account of an expedition to Everest that killed several people. It made me angry when I suspected it would just end up being disaster porn, but Krakauer manages to pull through in the final pages and evoke the wrenching guilt of the survivors, the loss and unanswered questions. That hit me pretty hard.

So why three stars? I wanted more about the people who died, more in other people's voices, and less straight narration of events. (Or perhaps just a mix of the two.) I do understand the simple ordering of what happened was necessary, even cathartic for Krakauer (or perhaps it gave him no resolution), but I wanted something more like a testament to the individuals up there, like he did for McCandless in Into the Wild.

Also, as always, I'm torn between thinking that this kind of exploration is wonderful and that it's just another code-driven bloodsport inflicted by the wealthy upon the world (and its sherpas), and which folks like Krakauer end up making a lot of money from.

Still, it's a fast read, sharply told, and a good meditation on disaster and guilt. And it has a scary and sad epigraph worth sharing, on how one explains any sort of disaster:

"I shall be inevitably be asked for a word of mature judgement on the expedition of a kind that was impossible when we were all up close to it... On the one hand, Amundsen going straight there, getting there first, and returning without the loss of a single man, and without having put any greater strain on himself and his men than was all in the day's work of polar exploration. On the other hand, our expedition, running appalling risks, performing prodigies of superhuman endurance, achieving immortal renown, commemorated in august cathedral sermons and by public statue, yet reaching the Pole only to find our terrible journey superfluous, and leaving our best men dead on the ice. To ignore such a contrast would be ridiculous: to write a book without accounting for it a waste of time." -- Apsley Cherry-Garrard, "The Worst Journey in the World," an account of Robert Falcon Scott's doomed 1912 expedition to the South Pole(less)

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Feb 18, 2010 Tatiana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Tatiana by: Heather

Shelves: 2010, non-fiction, foreign-lands, pulitzer

If Krakauer's intention was to kill all of our romantic ideas about mountain climbing with this book, he undoubtedly succeeded. Whatever idealistic notions of bravery, athleticism, adventure, and brotherhood I had about this "sport", are now gone forever.

What Krakauer delivers instead is a very tough picture of people who are ready to risk their lives and lives of those around them (guides, Sherpas, rescue workers) for the purpose of satisfying some masochistic macho aspirations of theirs or, ev...more If Krakauer's intention was to kill all of our romantic ideas about mountain climbing with this book, he undoubtedly succeeded. Whatever idealistic notions of bravery, athleticism, adventure, and brotherhood I had about this "sport", are now gone forever.

What Krakauer delivers instead is a very tough picture of people who are ready to risk their lives and lives of those around them (guides, Sherpas, rescue workers) for the purpose of satisfying some masochistic macho aspirations of theirs or, even worse, to get some cheap fame. I now know that there is no sportsmanship or athleticism or fitness about these trips to the top of Everest. People kill their brain cells, they freeze off their body parts, they lose eye sight, they die, all for the privilege of standing on the top of the world for a few seconds. I never understood this achievement before, I understand it even less now, knowing the costs of it. Even more, what kind of an achievement it is, if everything is done for you - Sherpas build your camps, make your food, carry your baggage (including laptops, TVs, gourmet foods, and magazines), fix ropes for you to hang on, even haul you to the top if needed?

But enough of ranting, time to talk about the book itself. I think Krakauer is a great non-fiction writer who manages to suck you into any story. Same goes for "Into Thin Air." It is a compelling book, more interesting in the latter part than in the beginning (once you pass 150-page mark, the book is virtually unputdownable). I personally would have preferred him to talk more about the trip and its difficulties rather than recounting everyone's back stories, but in the end, I have to admit, it adds certain relatability to the narrative. I also was afraid that he would spend a lot of time assigning blame to various players (including himself), but was pleased to see that he had learned from his "Outsider" article and came to the right conclusion that the Everest disaster was nobody's fault.

Overall, a very interesting and in many ways eye-opening story, which in spite of being beyond my scope of interest, managed to hold my attention.

Reading challenge: #10(less)

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Chloe I kind of get it. Sometimes, it’s as if the only way to know you’re alive is when you’re concentrating so hard to remain that way. But, I’m in some so...more
Dec 11, 2011 09:35pm

Ivana Chloe wrote: "I kind of get it. Sometimes, it’s as if the only way to know you’re alive is when you’re concentrating so hard to remain that way. But,...more
Dec 12, 2011 12:28am

Jan 15, 2011 JG (The Introverted Reader) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to JG (The Introverted Reader) by: Donna S

Shelves: 4_stars, author_american, non-fiction, read_in_2011, reviewed, titles_i_like, setting_nepal, biography_memoir, travel

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 t...more 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 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!(less)

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Feb 29, 2008 Greg rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a riveting first-hand portrayal of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster where eight people died in a single day. The fact that the story is a real-life account makes it all the more compelling. After reading this book, I became enthralled in learning more about high-altitude mountaineering and even attended several lectures by prominent climbers.

The story is compelling in spite of - not because of - the author. I am personally repelled by Jon Krakauer. Krakauer injects an ample dose of self-b...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Teresa Lukey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-stars, audiobook, i-learned-something, made-me-cry, must-share-with-friends, non-fiction, omg

ADDITION TO REVIEW: SEE LINK AT BOTTOM REGARDING OVERCROWDING AT EVEREST CLIMBS

Basically, this is a true account of completely crazy people going to the top of Mt. Everest. I am afraid of heights, so I don't get the desire these people have, but this is an excellent account of a group that heads to the top and suffers losses.

I sobbed a few times and think most people will have the same reaction, no matter how stupid or selfish you believe these people to be. I did not know that Krakauer himself...more

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Feb 20, 2009 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, natural, nonfiction

Fascinating book. Krakauer has a style of prose that captivates and brings the story and the people very much to life. He's an exceptional journalist, and documents every moment from multiple perspectives and with an exactness of time.

This story is tragic and horrible. Strangely, it makes Mt. Everest more appealing to me, but in terms of staggering danger that comes with it. It really speaks to humanity, to morality, the pursuit of dreams and danger and adventure. There are heroes and not-so-her...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Petra X rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-true-story

Into Thin Air or Injustice (of many kinds) on the Mountain.

Until almost the end this book was exactly as I expected it to be with just one exception. It was the story of a journalist climbing Mount Everest both as a journalist and as a mountaineer. Ideal getting paid to do your hobby! It was interesting because Krakauer is a damn good writer and because its fascinating to see the details of how the mountain is climbed. Its also disappointing because few individuals do it by themselves, without a...more Into Thin Air or Injustice (of many kinds) on the Mountain.

Until almost the end this book was exactly as I expected it to be with just one exception. It was the story of a journalist climbing Mount Everest both as a journalist and as a mountaineer. Ideal getting paid to do your hobby! It was interesting because Krakauer is a damn good writer and because its fascinating to see the details of how the mountain is climbed. Its also disappointing because few individuals do it by themselves, without a major support, like the guy who bicycled all the way around Europe to Nepal and then climbed the mountain alone (I would have liked to have read his story but it was only alluded to in the book). For everyone else its a package tour for the fit and not-necessarily experienced who want to climb Everest and have an awful lot of spare cash. Transport is arranged, tents are set up, luggage is carried, there will be steaming hot tea awaiting the climbers on their return to their tents after an expedition, and if they really can't climb well, they can be short-roped and pulled up. Short-roped is the climber roping themselves with a less-than-one-metre rope to the waist of the would-be-climber and literally hauling them up.

Still, even with all this portering and pampering I was surprised that the first climbers of the season (using last year's ropes) fitted ropes up Everest so that the climbers didn't have to set their own. More than that, the really difficult bits got ladders installed! But no matter how many shortcuts and easements they are able to achieve there are two things that can neither be predicted nor controlled. One is altitude sickness which in some forms can kill very quickly, and in others causes mental delusions that led one of the team to his death. And the other is the weather. 15 climbers died the year Krakauer climbed.

At the beginning of this review, I mentioned there was one exception to my expectations for this book based on several books I have read by this author. The exception was one extraordinary chapter full of the most vituperative nastiness against a socialite climber. I didn't know why it was there. He didn't get any nicer towards her as the book progressed either, but then he said that when he was writing the book he had a 75 minute phone conversation with her. Either she didn't know what he'd written - I would never bother wasting time on someone who had that little respect for me and intended to tell the world - or he didn't write it until after the phone conversation. My only reaction to the chapter was thinking that the author was such a damn bitch.

The last chapter was tremendously interesting. Krakauer had not had much respect for another of the climbers - the guide and tour leader Anatoli Boukreev. He felt that Boukreev was more fulfilling his own ambitions of climbing than in sticking to his job of helping others to climb and looking after their safety. Boukreev wrote his own book saying that Krakauer had not mentioned certain incidents somewhat detrimental to himself and that he had made some observational errors, either through oxygen deprivation or wilfullness, and gave his own version of the climb. This argy-bargy went back and forth in print and on tv, and this chapter is Krakauer defending himself. Sadly Boukreev, a climber par excellence, was buried under an avalanche on Annapurna the following year, in 1997, so we will never get to hear what he thought of Krakauer's defence.

The book is worth reading because the Sherpas have always been sidelined in stories of climbing Everest. As if it is somehow more praiseworthy for a White man to climb the mountain and its nothing really for the Sherpas who can just hop up and down like monkeys carrying all the loads while the white man Climbs. This book sets the record straight. The mountain could not be the business it is without the Sherpas. The tour companies and guides have enormous respect for these men and their abilities and form as firm friendships with them as they do with anyone else in their lives. Its a shame that this respect doesn't extend to paying them more than the one-tenth they earn compared to the tour guides but of course its justified in the traditional way - this is local wages, this is a lot of money for the locals, the locals don't need the things the guides from America, Australia etc do... Oh YAWN, I've heard it all before. Why can't people just put their money where their mouth is. You can't pay bills and put your kids through school on respect. Reduced by 1-star to four stars because of this.(less)

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May 09, 2013 Shaun rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2013

So it's 1996 and you've missed out on the Titanic but have a killer death wish and 65,000 dollars just burning a hole in your back pocket? No problem. There's always Everest.

Okay, so he was really a journalist and serious mountaineer who got an all-expense-paid chance to climb Everest. But still, I don't get it. I obviously don't get it, and it was satisfying to see that after his horrific and tragic experience climbing Mt. Everest that, I think, Jon Krakauer wishes he hadn't gotten it either......more So it's 1996 and you've missed out on the Titanic but have a killer death wish and 65,000 dollars just burning a hole in your back pocket? No problem. There's always Everest.

Okay, so he was really a journalist and serious mountaineer who got an all-expense-paid chance to climb Everest. But still, I don't get it. I obviously don't get it, and it was satisfying to see that after his horrific and tragic experience climbing Mt. Everest that, I think, Jon Krakauer wishes he hadn't gotten it either...the bug...the desire to pit himself up against mother nature, the cruelest and most heartless, unpredictable, and indiscriminate killer man has ever faced.

Though even Krakauer points out that the death rate on the mountain in 1996 was only 3% (including this unexpected tragedy) while the overall mortality rate was around 3.3%. Really? And just who does he think he's kidding? These were relatively young, healthy people who willingly and at much personal expense put themselves smack dab in the middle of death's path. Kind of think if someone told me that if I drove through town "X" that I'd have a 3% chance of dying when at my given age and health my chance was like .00003%, if that. Suffice to say, I think I'd find another way to wherever it was I thought I needed to go.

Bottom line, the idea of spending 65,000 dollars for a 2 month excursion to a frozen wasteland where people were known to be either too sick or tired themselves or, worse, too anxious to climb those last few hundred feet to the top that they'd step over my half-frozen though still alive body rather than risk turning around and forfeiting the chance to say...I did it, is not very appealing to me.

It was clear throughout the narrative that Krakauer was desperately trying to come to terms with the gravity of what happened during that fateful trip up and down the mountain, a trip that he suggests is driven more by compulsion than common sense. Think about it. The same people who are sure to pop in the newest all-cure multivitamin before buckling themselves up in their cars equipped to the max with safety features as they head to the gym to condition their precious cardiovascular systems before returning home to their kids, whom - I suspect - they invest a lot of energy in keeping out of harms way (or maybe not), these are the same people I imagine dishing out large sums of money to climb mountains it sounds as if some of them have no business climbing on the backs of the locals who make squat for risking their lives all so that these thrill seekers or whatever it is that drives them can get their fix.

But like I said, I don't get it, and I'm not capable of understanding so maybe I'm pontificating more than criticizing.

As far as the book? It's riveting. Aside from the story itself, Krakauer is a talented writer who gives just enough personal insight to make you feel invested, but remains detached and self-critical enough to make it believable rather than just some unburdening of his ego (though according to the author's note, that is exactly what some readers have accused him of).

My first experience of Krakauer's writing was Into the Wild, another great book which follows a young man who also makes the mistake of thinking he can somehow woo mother nature. Seems to me she's f'ing fickle and I personally have no desire to remind her or father death that I'm here, still alive, and enjoying myself.

Here's a quote I feel encompasses the moral of his story:

I'd always know that climbing mountains was a high-risk pursuit. I accepted that danger was an essential component of the game--without it, climbing would be little different from a hundred other trifling diversions. It was titillating to brush up against the enigma of mortality, to steal a glimpse across its forbidden frontier. Climbing was a magnificent activity., I firmly believed, not in spite of the inherent perils, but precisely because of them.

Until I visited the Himalaya, however, I'd never actually seen death at close range. Hell, before I went to Everest, I'd never even been to a funeral. Mortality had remained a conveniently hypothetical concept, an idea to ponder in the abstract. Sooner or later the divestiture of such a privileged innocence was inevitable, but when it finally happened the shock was magnified by the sheer superfluity of the carnage: all told, Everest killed twelve men and women in the spring of 1996, the worst single-season death toll since climbers first set foot on the peak seventy-five years ago.

Overall, a great book. I recommend to anyone who likes a good adventure gone bad story and/or simply wants to understand the driving force behind these types of endeavors. If there's a gene involved, I'll admit I didn't get it. In a way I admire, at least in spirit, what I think motivates people to attempt such feats, but looking at my life and my kids and the beauty and preciousness of life I still can't imagine putting myself in harms way intentionally, and for what and at what potential cost (and maybe books like this exaggerate the costs). There have got to be much safer ways to push yourself...but then as Krakauer points out, the fact that it is dangerous/unattainable for most is part of the attraction. Don't know, but nonetheless captivating read.
(less)

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Oct 01, 2011 Philip rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: pretty much anyone

Recommended to Philip by: doug

Shelves: memoirs, non-fiction, favorites

I promised myself that when I wrote a synopsis of Into Thin Air it would not contain the words perilous, arduous, or ill-fated because those words have a limiting effect on a book of this calibre.
Yes, it recounts an ill-fated Everest expedition. Yes the climb is fraught with peril. It is an adventure story, but in its honesty it is quite a bit more.

Although it is a non-fictional work, many of the literary conflicts that make for good narrative are present. The most apparent are man vs. himself...more

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Feb 09, 2010 mark rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Finally came across a book on the road that I really wanted to read. And once I started it, I pretty much tore straight through.

Krakouer recounts in a first-person narrative the tragic 1996 climbing season on Mt. Everest. Having been sent by Outside magazine to report on the booming commercial guiding industry on the mountain, he was actually a participant in a guided ascent that year and on one team caught in a storm near the summit. His writing is straightforward and interested in establishin...more

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Jun 30, 2007 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've never physically experienced climbing Everest, but I feel like I have. Krakauer's ability to describe the events in simple (sometimes brutally simple) language made my lungs hurt sometimes. But that is only part of the reason this book was amazing.
The first part of the book is a fascinating history of mountaineering and Everest. Krakauer's talents as a journalist pay off as he is able to describe this history in such a compelling way.
But the book runs deeper. Krakauer has also written a so...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Sagar Gohel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, biography, travel, adventure, made-into-a-movie, favorites

History speaks for itself that 1996 Everest disaster is worst of its time. It is one of the best Eyewitness accounts of Mountaineering by Jon Krakauer. Nature turned in to Monster claiming 15 fatalities in a single year. When you hear about cause of death it will be either Heart attack, or Depression, or mental stress or etc, but here few causes which are bit different…. Like HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema), HACE (high altitude cerebral edema), Avalanche, fall in Crevasse, Exposure, Lost of...more

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Sep 20, 2010 Charlie McKittrick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It wasn't until about half way through this book that it started to become really gripping. In the first half there were some historical facts about mountaineering and Everest which I enjoyed. Throughout the book the author had a tendency to go off on tangents and by the time he went back to the actual story, it was hard to remember where he was picking up from. He also did a lot of name dropping. I found it challenging to remember who exactly everyone was. He includes a list of climbers, statin...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Shellys♥ Journal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, memoir, non-fiction, outdoors, travel

A very emotionally charged book. This is a factual account of the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster where 9 climbers - including two experienced guides - lost their lives. Krakauer had been sent by Outside Magazine as a reporter to cover one of the expeditions. This is not only a personal account, but detailed after conducting numerous interviews with survivors.

1996 Krakauer was covering the "Commercialization" of Everest - clients who may or maynot be fit for an adventure of this magnitude pay $65,00...more

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Jul 31, 2008 Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really really liked this book as well. I think mostly because it was a true story that I loved it. I think everyone should read it and then we should all get together and go climb Everest. Let me know who is in I will call and make reservations.

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Jul 01, 2008 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Well written. This chronicles the 1996 tragedy very well. I taught this book for many years, and students enjoyed it. I like how the book makes me question who is a celebrity and who is a hero and what are our moral obligations to help others.

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Jun 11, 2008 Sara rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While it was a well written book, I had trouble getting beyond my anger at the needless loss of life.

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Mar 17, 2013 Arah-Leah Hay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: five-star-books, favorites, true-survival

I think its impossible to read this and not be moved. I couldn't put it down, I can't stop thinking about it. There are so many compelling parts to this story that I was caught off guard with , had no knowledge of, and was completely shocked by. The effects of HAPE and HACE among them. I do think that this is an important story that needed to be told. I was unaware of the controversy between Krakauer and Boukreev at the beginning of this story and now I can't help my desire to read "The Climb"....more

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Feb 01, 2009 Jenni rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of those books tha tI loved while I hated it. It ts the real story of climbing mount everest ant the people that died in the 1996 season. I can honestly say that I now wonder why anyone would ever have the desire to climb that mountain. Everyone on that mountain had to face a moral challenge that I couldnt possibly believe anyone would desire. Hiking past the bodies on the mountain was bad enough, but then to have to chose to leave living people behind because it was probably too lat...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: great-big-hunks-o-nature

If this book were food, it would be a Dove Bar with a core of seven percent sulfuric acid. It's not bad at all for the most part. A little tiresome at times unless you're really into climbing; more joy would spring from a well of lyric poetry than from the clipped detachment of they learn in journalism school; but once they get up to Base Camp, it's good.

But then you get to the Postscript, which you read because you hope for a where-are-they-now, and there you get Krakauer defending himself aga...more

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About Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer, well-known for outdoor and mountain-climbing writing.

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Quotes from Into Thin Air

“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.” — 23 people liked it

“There is a dark side to religious devotion that is too often ignored or denied. As a means of motivating people to be cruel or inhumane, there may be no more potent force than religion. When the subject of religiously inspired bloodshed comes up, many Americans immediately think of Islamic fundamentalism, which is to be expected in the wake of 911. But men have been committing heinous acts in the name of God ever since mankind began believing in deities, and extremists exist within all religions. Muhammad is not the only prophet whose words have been used to sanction barbarism; history has not lacked for Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and even Buddhists who have been motivated by scripture to butcher innocents. Plenty of these religious extremist have been homegrown, corn-fed Americans.” — 18 people liked it

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