Analysis Of Mount Everest, By Jon Krakauer

After reading this book I have come to the realization that the factor of money played a major role in the absolute chaos that happened on Mount Everest during this expedition. Throughout this book, I have learned of the many dangers of Mount Everest and the new commercial way of climbing. As the years go on more and more people will begin to take advantage of this new way of getting the opportunity to climb Mount Everest. And because of this influx of people taking advantage of commercial climbing more and more deaths will occur. This leads me to say that money is the only way to gain this opportunity. And with only having to pay a large sum, many different types of people will gain access to this opportunity. So, because of money, the type

This fact shows me that anyone was capable of joining any expedition they choose. And hence, many people do join the different expeditions such as the author of this book, Jon Krakauer, who was a journalist sent on the expedition by his company to make a story about the new commercial way of climbing Mount Everest. Even though Krakauer was already a mountaineer himself, other people on the same expedition as himself didn’t have the same qualifications as him. Because of the fact that anyone can join the probability of a major catastrophe is more likely to happen like in the book. For example, even Boukreev realized this fact when he said, “If a client cannot climb Everest without help from the guide… the client shouldn’t be on Everest.” (Chapter 11) In the book, many climbers like the South Africans and the Taiwanese were inexperienced and they created a liability for everyone else who were on the mountain. They created a very dangerous situation for other people on the mountain like Krakauer and his companions. And in the end, the inexperience of the climbers led to a major catastrophe and cost the lives of many

This new industry began to grow at a rapid pace when other veteran climbers saw what they could make. Now, instead of having to be trained and prepared for the hardships, anyone can raise the money and pay for their way to join the expedition. And this links back to how inexperienced climbers can join an expedition to Mount Everest. Furthermore, money can be the sole driving force for the different guides leading the undertaking. Moreover, the price that the guides are charging is astronomical. According to the book, Krakauer and others paid up to $65,000 dollars to join an expedition up Mount Everest (Chapter 1). In the book, it states that “by 1996 Hall was charging… a lot of money… equal to the mortgage on my Seattle home.” (Chapter 3) Also, the greed of the leaders can overcome them and lead them to not care as much for their clients as much as they should. This can then lead to accidents on the mountain and could lead to death. So, one of the many roles that money played in the events of the Mount Everest expedition was that it created a new industry for veteran