Analysis Of Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer

Picture yourself on top of the highest mountain in the world, you are feeling euphoric and elated you were able to make it this far. Now, imagine that you see bad weather coming your way and getting back down could be a matter of life and death. This exact situation was stricken upon author Jon Krakauer, who would write about his experiences in the book Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster, which was published in 1997; with a postscript authored in 1999. The paperback is a first-hand account of Krakauer’s journey to Everest as a journalist. Krakauer’s story begins when he is offered to write an article on Mt. Everest and accepts. Once in Nepal, Krakauer joins Rob Hall’s expedition team known as Adventure Consultants. Another expedition trying to reach the top of Everest on the same day and closely linked to Hall was Scott

While climbing toward each camp and eventually towards the summit, Krakauer personally gets to know each climber fairly well and knows the ins and outs of almost every one of them. After much time getting acclimated, the teams reach the top; but, that’s when everything goes to hell. A storm rolls in without the knowledge of Hall or Fischer and the teams become effectively stuck at the top. Krakauer, whom had been ahead of most of the other climbers and on his way down, ultimately finds himself in the storm and faces many life or death situations, including potentially saving other people’s lives. After an extended amount of time, Krakauer finds his way back to camp, but he soon finds out he was one of the lucky ones. When all was said and done, eight people had perished in the Mount Everest Disaster of 1996;