Book Report Into Thin Air

The non-fiction book Into Thin Air takes place on Mount Everest. In the book reporter and author, Jon Krakauer, joins the “Adventure Consultants” climbing expedition with Rob Hall, an experienced climber, as the guide. The climb takes a turn for the worst when a rogue storm hits, leaving four of the six in the party dead, many of the dead left stranded on the mountain. Hall’s group is not the only group to venture up the mountain during this time. Many other groups lost members. Some individuals found the lost people, but left them to die (didn’t have the strength or would have led to their demise as well). Both a Japanese team and a team led by Dr. Stuart Hutchison discovered some near death survivors but left them to perish.

Two members of the Japanese team found one of the Ladakhi climbers lying in the snow, frostbitten but alive, barely. The Japanese team did not want to risk their expedition and they continued climbing towards the summit. As they got closer to the summit they discovered two more Ladakhis barely alive. The Japanese team simply ignored them and continued with their journey. The Japanese could have chosen to help the three Ladakhis, but instead ignored them. They had limited supplies and did not want to waste any to help three men who would probably die, so they overlooked them and continued their accent to the summit. “We didn’t know them. No, we didn’t give them any water. We

Into Thin Air forces many people to question their moral choices and make difficult decisions that could either threaten or save that person’s life. Jon Krakauer shows many times throughout the book how he disagrees with certain people’s choices. In fact, one must wonder how Hutchison felt when he learned that Beck survived and wandered back into Camp Four the day after Hutchison left him behind and “in thin