Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Impossible to put down!
Perhaps timing is everything, but don't tell that to Jon Krakauer, an outdoors writer and mountain climber who was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to climb Mount Everest; only to find himself in the middle of the most notable catastrophe to ever strike the mountain. With the 50th anniversary of the successful assent by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, there is renewed interest in Chomolungma (the Tibetan name for the mountain. Previous to the second half of the twentieth century, Everest was a forbidden monolith that crushed anyone who attempted to scale it's heights. But with it's invincibility shattered by Hillary and Norgay, Everest began to shed some of it's mystery, and bit by bit, the appearance (but just the appearance) of it's lethality. By the 90's, the primary requisite for a summit attempt was a bank account large enough to pay for an experienced guide. New problems like the litter of discarded oxygen canisters became a threat to the mountain, as the climbing ranks swelled with serious amateurs anxious to achieve various ego firsts like "first woman over 60," "first Lithuanian" to summit Everest, along with the highest mountains on each of the continents.Outside magazine sent Krakauer on an expedition with Rob Hall, one of the most experienced of the new crop of guides, whose business it was to get climbers to the summit. Even with modern equipment and climbing techniques that's still a daunting task, not for the faint of heart or the expanded of waistline. However the professional mountaineers of Hillary's generation were being followed on Hall's expedition by a postal employee, a New York socialite and others. They were joined on the mountain by various teams, some so inexperienced as to be comical. Among the other teams was one led by Scott Fisher, another guide that was making a name for his ability to get people to the top and in a bit of braggadocio had even claimed that he had "found a golden staircase to the summit." Krakauer outlines all of the minutia regarding preparation and execution of an Everest climb. You can almost find yourself wheezing as he describes what existence is like above the elevation that is known as the Death Zone. And he recounts in harrowing detail the storm that hit while Hall and Fisher's teams were near or below the summit, and the efforts of the others to rescue them. I had mixed feelings when I read of the final conversation between Rob Hall, as he sat helpless and dying on the mountain, and his pregnant wife back in New Zealand. Here is a man and woman exchanging their final words, both fully aware of his fate, and yet we mortals who will likely never be tested in this way are privy to his private thoughts and her quiet despair. Moving from the role of dispassionate observer, into a deeper role of survivor, Krakauer anguishes over what he could have done differently, of the mistakes he believes he made and how he will ever reconcile his grief. Yes, he stood on the summit. Yes, he survived and returned home. But he has no satisfaction about conquering the mountain. And he questions why anyone else would even attempt it.
Rating: - A tragic and gripping adventure story
Jon Krakauer keeps the suspense high as he methodically unfolds the tragic drama that played out on Mount Everest's South Summit in May 1996. Krakauer was sent by Outside magazine as one of the clients on a commercial expedition led by the experienced climber Rob Hall. His purpose was to make the summit and then write an article about the expedition. Krakauer himself is also a very practiced climber but had little high-altitude experience at the time.Although the author made the summit, a sudden blizzard swept the mountain soon after and caused the deaths of several team members. Krakauer witnessed these terrible events firsthand and recounts them in vivid detail. As Krakauer explains in the introduction, he felt that his original article for Outside was too short to do the events of that day proper justice, so he wrote this book to get the full story off his chest. Well, the story is simply a must read. I dimly remember newspaper headlines about the disaster and you may know all the details from newspapers and magazines, but this book puts you on Mount Everest itself and acutely describes the often horrific conditions up there. The air is brutally cold and windy. Frostbite attacks exposed skin instantly and the extremely thin air can cause edemas of the lungs and brain as these organs starve for oxygen. Basically, climbing above 25,000 feet is a gamble of life at best and all climbers are at the mercy of the elements. That's Krakauer's point. Time to put on your crampons, shoulder your pack (or let your sherpa do it), and head for the roof of the world. Umm, actually I advise that you read about it instead, especially if you've got family. Highly recommended!
Rating:  - It's No Ten But Give the Guy a Break
I met Beck Weathers a few weeks ago and, having heard about but never read Into Thin Air, bought a copy and had Beck sign it. After reading the book half way through, I was surprised that Beck would put his name, let along his signature to it. Krakauer at first was extremely judgemental of all of the paying clients in Hall's "expedition" and seemed to have contempt for anyone who could pay their way to the summit. At the time, Jon was eeking out a living as a writer and certainly could not easily afford to take such a trip at his own expense. Beck's own experience was probably more disturbing to me than Krakauer's attempts to convince the world that the tragic events of May 10, 1996 were not his fault. Beck, in a nutshell, said that he wound up on Everest to complete his ascents of the Seven Summits and in nearly dying found that his search for fulfillment was not to be found in such a monumental accomplishment but instead in his own life which he nearly forsake for this stupid hobby. When asked for advice that he would give to a man who is 43 and eager to attempt similar feats, he was quite clearly changed in responding, "If you have children, it is morally irresponsible." Beck is not alone in having bitten off more than he could chew. He is just one who has publicly told his story and realizes just how lucky he is. After having heard his story, I actually thought less of him than before I met him. I thought he was more of an adventurer and not simply one of the many who could pay to reach the top of the world. Krakauer is unfortunate in feeling his guilt given the conditions of Everest in the Death Zone. Not one of us as readers may judge his motives, mental condition or perception of the situation which he experienced. Beck said himself that you can be responsible for one person only at those altitudes and that is yourself. Your mental capacity is barely adequate to make any decisions and the physical condition marginal at best to allow you to descend after summitting. How can anyone be expected to be a hero? If you want to criticize Krakauer, then move to Nepal and work as a rescue worker at the Base Camp. Whatever Jon's motives for writing, let them be his and his alone. He did not set out to put his book on the New York Times Bestseller List. He wrote for the need to write, whether catharsis or simply artistic desire. He wrote when he needed to and the result is what we have. Enjoy it, I did.
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