Into Thin Air

by Jon Krakauer

My hunger to climb had been blunted, in short, by a bunch of small satisfactions that added up to something like happiness.

I quickly came to understand that climbing Everest was primarily about enduring pain. And in subjecting ourselves to week after week of toil, tedium, and suffering, it struck me that most of us were probably seeking, above all else, something like a state of grace.