In the month of May 1996, a huge climbing disaster occurred atop the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest. This disaster took the lives of many people from several expeditions who were climbing to the summit after a deadly blizzard struck the expedition. However, there are many perspectives on what happened on the day of the disaster including Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Anatoli Boukreev’s The Climb. The catastrophe revealed the ethos, pathos, and logos of Krakauer and Boukreev, but there are many arguments on who is more credible. In conclusion, despite the experience and knowledge of Anatoli Boukreev, Jon Krakauer’s knowledge, character, and goodwill made him a more credible person in this dispute.
Even though Anatoli Boukreev
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Krakauer is very skilled when it comes to writing because prior to going on the Everest expedition, he had “written more than sixty pieces for Outside over the previous fifteen years” (Krakauer 27) and a best-selling book, Into the Wild. In addition, Krakauer’s writing makes him far more superior than Boukreev because when he wrote The Climb, he had no writing experience, the book was translated from Russian and was co-written by an amateur filmmaker and writer, G. Weston Dewalt. Boukreev inexperience and knowledge in writing makes it seem that he cannot be trusted on the events that occurred on Everest. Additionally, while Boukreev was a better climber, Krakauer was not a novice at climbing. He had climbed many dangerous mountains prior to Everest like Mooses Tooth, Devils Thumb, ice climbs in Canada and Colorado, and had “scaled a frightening, mile-high spike of vertical and overhanging granite called Cerro Torre” (Krakauer 28). Also, many experienced climbers like Ed Viesturs, David Breashears, and Neal Beidleman take Krakauer’s side. Viesturs says that Krakauer is “not only a highly respected writer but a very talented climber”; and Breshears in an interview said that "I think Jon's book is a very honest account” and “He is a good reporter, trained