The Tragic Analysis Of Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer

Only 6.5% of people who climb Mt. Everest don’t make it back down. But that was not the case for Jon Krakauer in his group. In total, nine lives were lost on the mountain, and three more lives were lost in the following month. These tragic events led to many changes in the character of Jon Krakauer. In Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into Thin Air, Ngawang’s choice to refuse to get treated for HAPE, Beck Weather’s choice to stand on a big rock and let the wind blow him off, and Rob Hall’s choice to not abandon Doug Hansen and save himself led to Jon becoming a wiser, more respectful, and mentally stronger individual.

Ngawang’s choice to not get treated for HAPE, or High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, led to Jon becoming a wiser person. After this,

Jon had more respect for the mountain, and more respect for others and their capabilities. After Beck had been blown off a rock, beyond the sight of everyone around him, he was presumed dead. Hutchinson organized a search team consisting of four Sherpas to locate his body, as well as the body of another climber who had also been missing, and was thought to be dead. They found both climbers, who, to their surprise, were alive, but barely. “Beck’s head was also caked with a thick armor of frost. Balls of ice the size of grapes were matted to his hair and eyelids.” (260), Hutchinson reports. Shocked, and confused about what to do, he asked Lhakpa, who had climbed Everest before and was respected by the Sherpas,what the best course of action would be. Lhakpa said that the best decision would likely be to just leave the two climbers, because “...they would certainly die before they could be carried down to Base Camp, and attempting a rescue would needlessly jeopardize the lives of other climbers on the Col...” (260) After being abandoned, Beck later returned to Camp, having walked himself, even in his terrible condition. This made Jon a more respectful person, because seeing how people can persevere, and live in even the toughest of times gave him more respect for others. As well, his respect for the mountain grew, after

Rob Hall had been leading another one of his clients, Doug Hansen, up to the summit of the mountain. Even though the time that Rob had designated as the time to descend passed two hours ago, Rob kept going because he had had to turn Doug around on a previous climb. As they were approaching the summit, Doug was struggling, and as they began to descend, they ran out of oxygen. Due to miscommunication, Rob was unaware that there were two full bottles of oxygen waiting for them, so he stayed with Doug. Rob could have easily made it down to safety, but Doug couldn’t, and Rob didn’t want to leave his client stranded on the mountain. Andy Harris eventually got some oxygen up to Rob, but by the time he got it up Doug was dead and Rob was in terrible condition and too frostbitten to descend. Eventually, Rob perished, succumbing to the cold. This led to Jon becoming mentally stronger because he was without a guide, so he was forced to think more independently, and be more of a leader. He realized that even the most experienced climbers aren’t immune to the wrath of the mountain. After Rob Hall was gone, Jon and the other members of his group who were still alive were forced to make more decisions for themselves, and they had to really work together to survive, which made Jon mentally stronger because he had to be strong and work together. He had to shake off what had