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Fear Of Failure In Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer

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Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air indulges in the numerous obstacles the climbers encountered while summiting Mount Everest. The Mount Everest expeditions in May 1996 uncovered the extreme dangers that can occur when people experience poor judgement. The climbers largely put their faith in each other to ensure a safe ascent. While on Everest, the climbers navigated several obstacles in their pursuit of the summit. Psychological obstacles affected the climbers the most because they had a fear of failure. Subsequently, their extreme fear of failure resulted in their lack of judgement which led to their death. Of the people on the expedition, Rob Hall had the most severe outcome, due to his fear of failure. Hall experienced difficulty in 1995: “he …show more content…

Coincidentally, each person’s fear of failure increased the probability that their actions would result in the deaths of themselves and the other climbers. Throughout Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer explores numerous climbers and their reasons for ascending Everest, and in doing so, it is revealed that each climber suffers from a fear of failure. Even though most people died, they experienced the thrill of a lifetime that many people do not experience. The members of the expedition believed they were better than other members of society: “As individuals, we want to, individually, be better than other individuals” (“Super Humanity”). For Scott Fischer and Rob Hall, their fear of failure resulted in them trying to stand out from everyone else by attempting the difficult task of leading people to the summit of Mount Everest. Although their actions led to the deaths of several people, they did get the majority of the members to the summit. For Andy Harris and Doug Hansen, they wanted to do the extraordinary and conquer Mount Everest, and after their extreme investments, they could not afford to fail atop Everest. In pursuing the accomplishment, they both summited, but failed to survive the descent. Despite several obstacles, psychological obstacles produced the fear of failure among the climbers which brought on their inevitable failure and

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