Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

In spite of many reviews of this book which suggest that Mr. Krakauer's account of this Everest expedition is self-serving and overly critical of Anatoli Boukreev, I found it to be a moving and unbiased narrative of an event which has obviously devastated the author and left him wracked with guilt.

Into Thin Air is a riveting and exceptional account of the 1996 Everest disaster that left many brave people -- tourists and guides -- dead. If the author, Jon Krakauer, did not try and identify the factors which led to this tragic end, we as readers would be sorely disappointed with the book. Clearly, we want to know what happened and what went wrong. Krakauer tries to describe the events as he remembers them, and he has called upon many of his companions in this nightmare to share their memories as well.

He does not point fingers, and this is an important point for me. An event of this magnitude was too complicated to have a single cause, and no one person or action could be solely responsible. I realize that the relatives (and fans) of Hall, Fischer, and Boukreev don't want to hear about mistakes they might have made, and yet I always found Krakauer to be fair in his observations. Hall's death is tragic, and I cried while reading about it. But still, Hall did not follow his own guidelines that day, and Krakauer explores the reasons he might have acted against his better judgment.

And yes, Boukreev was a hero who single-handedly saved several people -- but his actions earlier in the day had their small part in the impending disaster. Some other reviewers carry on as if Krakauer has identified Boukreev's decision to climb without oxygen as the sole cause of the disaster. He never says that. It's just one detail in a web of causalities.

Krakauer does not spare himself. He makes it clear that he was in a state of collapse in his tent, asleep, while Boukreev was heroically staging a rescue attempt. And he is very, very clear about the role he played in the death of Andy Harris. I think Mr. Krakauer will take that guilt with him to the grave.

This is a moving, well-written, and (in my opinion) realistic and unbiased account. I found it to be unforgettable.

Anyone who wants to climb Mount Everest after reading this book is raving mad.

Jon Krakauer's storytelling is amazing. You feel as if you are on Everest with him (and with the condemned on that fateful climb): you feel the numbing cold and lack of oxygen; you are maddened by the ignorance of inexperienced climbers; you can't take another minute of the physical exertion and are desperate for rest.

Krakauer makes you really care about the people who are injured or killed. He is painfully honest and obsessed with accuracy, but it's far from boring; the book reads like a thriller.

While this book makes for a very compelling reading, it raises several questions about the accuracy of the story as told by Krakauer. Krakauer consistently downplays and denigrates Boukreev's heroics and experiences of climbing without use of bottled oxygen. In the meantime, Krakaeur opens the book by describing how on the way down from the summit, he asked a fellow climb to shut off the oxygen during a traffic jam, only to find that the fellow climber accidentally turned up the valve. According to Krakauer, this unplanned use of oxygen left him even very groggy and Krakauer implies that the fellow climber's error contributed to his near "comatose" state once he got down. (and why he did not join in on rescue). Note that several people who were on top saw Krakaeur coming near the summit, and reported him as going very strong.

Anatoli Boukreev's Climb and Above the Clouds should be read alongside the book. See also Ed Vieustur's take on 1996.

No matter what the reason, when beckoned to assist other climbers, Krakauer did not do so. Boukreev did assist. Heroically.

You then decide, whose story is more accurate, and closer to the truth.

I recently became obsessed with reading about Everest and this book has been by far the best I have read. Jon Krakauer is a fantastic author and has put together arguably the best account of the tradgedy of 1996.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster I never dreamed of climbing Mt. Everest whether it was there or not, hell I get winded on the ski lift. Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air evokes intoxicating wonder in the endeavor, while tempering it with the stark reality of deadly conditions and daunting sacrifice.

Krakauer writes in a way that is so pain-stakingly specific to the subject, yet somehow he leaves room for the reader's imagination to fill in the scene. A rudimentary map in the prologue pages colored by about a dozen black and white glossies mid-way through the book were all I needed to paint an intimate picture of the 1996 Mt. Everest Disaster.

I'd never put much thought into what it would take to do something as monumental as climbing Mount Everest. Logistics aside, preparing oneself for such a quixotic adventure must include long hours staring into the mirror. I was captivated by the soul cleansing effect of pushing one's mind and body so far beyond the boundaries of safety and sanity. Krakauer's story enlightens this aspect as only someone writing from real experience can. The reality and tragedy of these events only begin in the text. The full force of the story gripped me far beyond words.

Shivering through pre-dawn walks to the subway in Brooklyn while reading Into Thin Air, I tried to picture myself trudging across the frozen waste of the Western Cwm with a trusty Sherpa by my side. Fifty below zero, sixty mile per hour wind gusts, hundred foot crevasses, thirty percent oxygen levels, sheesh, count me out, I'll wait for the DVD.

Now, I don't want to turn my blog into a book review site (how friggin' boring would that be?), but I love this guy! Into Thin Air is recommended reading.

Vinny