Comparing Into Thin Air And The Climb By Jon Krakauer

In the books Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev, both Krakauer and Boukreev had different opinions about the actions that Boukreev took during the 1996 Everest expedition. Krakauer claimed that Boukreev should have not descended the mountain before the clients, should have used supplemental oxygen, was not well dressed, and did not interview key people for his book; however, Boukreev had strong reasoning behind all the criticism that Krakauer mentions, proving Krakauer wrong. Krakauer believed that Boukreev’s action of descending the mountain after summiting and not waiting for clients was “questionable behavior for a guide” (Boukreev 213). Knowing this information, would make someone think that Boukreev was unfit

This shows that Krakauer accused Boukreev for not behaving as a guide, while Boukreev was actually authorized to descend the mountain for the benefit of the clients, not himself.

Krakauer claimed that climbing without oxygen compromised Boukreev’s effectiveness as a guide. He saw that Boukreev’s climbing without oxygen “didn’t seem to be in the clients’ best interest” (Krakauer 186). He believed that because Boukreev did not use supplemental oxygen, he would not have adequate amounts of oxygen in is brain, causing him to make irrational decisions, with his clients’ lives at stake. Boukreev however, had “climbed mountains for more than twenty-five years, and only once on an assault of an 8000er did [he] ever use [supplemental oxygen]” (Boukreev 214). This shows that Boukreev had a lot of experience climbing without oxygen. That is what he had always done, even on the other Everest expeditions that he was a part of. Climbing without oxygen was actually safer for Boukreev than climbing with it because it had been his practice to climb without it. It was also safer for him because of his acclimatization routine. Once Boukreev was acclimatized, he did not climb with oxygen to steer clear from the sudden loss of acclimatization that happens when all supplemental oxygen is exhausted. Not only did Boukreev have experience climbing without supplemental oxygen, but “Scott approved [his] climbing without it” (Boukreev 214). This shows that Scott Fisher, the team leader himself, was okay with it; Boukreev had permission first to be sure that he was allowed to