Jon Krakauer Climbing Techniques In Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is a thrilling tale of the incredibly dangerous summit attempt of Mount Everest in 1996. Throughout the book Krakauer vividly describes numerous close calls, challenging decisions, and near death experiences. Through these obstacles Krakauer is able to display how cultural, physical, and geographical surroundings shape his thoughts and morals. Krakauer reveals how the culture of the sherpas shaped him by describing the horrible living conditions of one of the small towns his climbing group was forced to stay in overnight. Krakauer states “Nepalese and Westerners alike, evacuated their bowels outside on the open ground, wherever the urge struck. Huge stinking piles of human feces lay everywhere; it was impossible

Fearing that the pack will slow him from his natural pace and prevent him from reaching the summit before 2 p.m., the designated turn around time, he “Leapfrogg[s] past others” (Krakauer 168). To one who is unaware of climbing techniques, this might not sound like a huge deal; but every time that a climber passes someone, he must disengage his harness from the line. By doing so, he puts his life at risk of falling with nothing to catch him. This could result in a fluke accident that would in turn take his life or at the very least severely injure him. However this is not the only risk, he is also exerting so much extra energy to leapfrog the others, that he is tempting his body to vomit in his oxygen mask. This would result in him having no supplemental oxygen for the rest of the ascent. Once Krakauer climbed to the top of the mountain, he became so consumed by the breathtaking view, that he neglected to check his oxygen tank. Later he realized his, “oxygen tank [...] was almost empty,” (Krakauer 9). This is a serious issue because being at such a high altitude without supplemental oxygen puts Krakauer at an extreme risk of contracting HAPE, HACE, or other severe high altitude sicknesses that could result in death. So that he can reach the next oxygen tank that has been set aside for him further down

He said that just, “walking to the mess tent at mealtime left me wheezing for several minutes,” (Krakauer 72). This occurs at base camp which is only three miles above sea level; Everest’s summit is roughly five and a half. Krakauer is only about half way up and he is already exhausted from walking around camp. So later in the book when they are leaving their fallen group members, it is because they have reasoned that they would be too exhausted to make the trek up and down and also they know that the fallen members have a slim chance of making it down the rest of the mountain alive. Another reason that the team was so indifferent to those being left on the mountain was that they were not getting much sleep. Krakauer describes how the elevation of Everest kept him “awake most of the night, struggling for breath in the meager air,” (Krakauer 127). Therefore, not only was the group enduring one of the most difficult and strenuous tasks of climbing the largest mountain on Earth, but they were also being forced to do in on minimal sleep which was dulling their senses and their decision making