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Analysis Of Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer

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Into Thin Air is written from a first-hand perspective about a disastrous set of expeditions to the top of Everest. These expeditions were led at the same time in the spring of 1996. Krakauer, the author of the book, is telling the story of the climb and everything leading up to it from his perspective with insight from the other climbers that have survived the disastrous trek. Krakauer details the events leading up to their attempt to summit the mountain and in as much detail as he and the other climbers remember details the events that unfold as they attempt to descend the mountain through a terrible storm. Through the entire book Krakauer presents his concern in the teamwork and abilities of the rest of his climbing group and as they battle …show more content…

A lack of teamwork and communication between the climbers leads to a broken ascent to the summit and an even more chaotic descent when a storm rolls in that sends visibility spiraling downwards, winds racing, and chances of survival outside of shelter to plummet. When climbing mountains teamwork is one of the parts that is most important. As Krakauer says mountain climbers are usually very reluctant to climb with people that they are no confident in their abilities because being able to trust in your team is such an important thing. If you aren’t tied to your teammate you are trusting hem to watch your back and to be able to handle the mountain themselves so that you are not having to pick up their slack or support them throughout the entire climb. Krakauer expresses his concern for the lack of ability of his climbing partners very early on in the trek before they have even made it to base camp. He writes …show more content…

Below the summit a storm had begun to brew that would lead 8 members of the team to their deaths. Many have been referring to this storm as the “Into Thin Air storm” (469, Moore and Semple). The storm provided a means to drop the amount of vision the climbers had on the mountain to near zero, this allowed for the climbers that were not already back at base camp by the time the bulk of the storm hit to easily get lost and stray from the path when they were descending the mountain. One group of climbers including Beck Weathers and Yasuko Namba wandered around a flat col for what would later be described as hours. They knew that they were at the same altitude as the camp they were looking for but due to the brutality of the storm they had no idea where to go to find the camp and shelter. Although many experienced Everest climbers stated that this was a normal occurrence on Everest and that Hall had just been lucky with the weather before to have never had this issue a later study believes that to be false. A study done by Moore and Sempe shows that based on weather documented from 1996 over the course of 6 days from May 8-14 the temperature drop from an abnormally high temperature to an abnormally low temperature. This created the perfect scenario for the “Into Thin Air Storm” to brew into a major storm the likes of which is not

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