Jon Krakauer is looking to fulfill a childhood ambition by finally climbing Mount Everest. After being assigned to write a brief piece about the mountain for Outside magazine, Krakauer manages to convince his bosses to fund a full-fledged expedition to the top. Bold. Krakauer is climbing with Adventure Consultants, a commercial group led by experienced climber Rob Hall. The journalist befriends several members of his group, such as Andy Harris, a guide, and Doug Hansen, a fellow client and postal worker back home.
As the author writes, it comes clear to the reader of how much completing this climb means to him and how determined he is to go through with it and conquer the climb, but he also shows his excitement throughout the journey. “Wind and horizontal snow takedown our suits and covered us with a layer of ice,” one example stated by Weihenmayer that the climb was very difficult, but the team had to push through with determination. Throughout the story, Weihenmayer explains every tough situation of the climb, like this one, that he had to struggle to overcome. He continues to push through to complete the climb because of his determination and with every obstacle conquered his excitement is visible. As Weihenmayer stated, ‘“We’re on the top.
In the long run, Krakauer concludes that complete arrogance is in part to blame for the tragedy that takes place on Everest. Hall "bragged on more than one occasion that he could get almost any reasonably fit person to the summit. " Their arrogance also caused their clients to lower their guard and not fully appreciate the risks of the expedition. Overall, Krakauer taught many different themes within the novel that everyone should
For people who don’t know anything about Everest or climbing in general, Krakauer dives into the history and technicality of climbing Everest. Only after describing every incident leading up to the summit, Krakauer begins detailing the events and mistakes during the storm that ended up killing thirteen people. The storm leaves Krakauer and many other survivors shaken, the only thing left is to see how the deaths on Everest end up affecting friends and family. There is no real ending to this book, it was only meant to purge Krakauer of the guilt and shame Everest left him with. The only resolution is for Krakauer getting as accurate of an account of the event as he could
Once they hit summit and were at the top of the mountain, some of the groups caught in the end by the storm. Sadly, Hansen, Hall and Fischer were left stranded. Hansen ran out of oxygen, and Fischer was found dead. Some groups were saved, but others were presumed dead. Krakauer survived and achieved the task of climbing the mountain that most people would not or could not do.
Doug worked two different jobs to afford to go on the trip to Everest, and was making his second attempt to reach the summit of Everest. Doug came back to Everest to try and reach the summit for the first time. Because Doug failed to reach the summit on his first attempt, I argue that Doug Hansen’s primary motivation
Out of the four years that Hall summited Everest, two of them happened on May 10th. On this at the date the weather was always good; high visibility, clear skies, and good temperature. Everyone on Hall's team who has reached the summit on this date successfully descended the mountain (pg. 182). However, this year was different. Some people decided to back down on reaching the summit because they either lost all strength or were scared that whatever obstacles are waiting ahead might just be worse than what they have already experienced before (pg. 192).
Krakauer visioned the climb to be fun, fulfilling, and challenging; however, he soon realized that it was excruciatingly painful. He expressed early in his memoir, ”Secretly, I dreamed of ascending Everest myself one day; for more than a decade it remained a burning ambition” (Krakauer 23). As
It is also stunningly beautiful from its glistening ice to its crystal clear air. The mountain is beautiful, a beautiful beast that is. Mount Everest has taken the lives of over 280 people in its recorded history and claims several lives each year. Everything is deadly on this mountain from the subzero temperatures to the high altitudes. The novel Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer describes one of the worst disasters in the mountains recent history.
When Fischer is lost on the summit, Lopsang 's search for him is not deterred, even by the deadly weather. Hall is similarly loyal to Hansen, refusing to leave Hansen at the summit. Hall 's loyalty to Hansen eventually results in his death—he could have left Hansen at the top and climbed down, but he does not even consider it. " But forty minutes later, Hall was still with Hansen atop the Hillary Step, going nowhere. During radio calls from Hall at 5:36, and again at 5:57, Cotter implored his mate to leave Hansen and come down alone.
Krakauer explains how following the discovery of Everest as the highest mountain in the world, the journey to the top would take the lives of 24 men, the efforts of 15 expeditions and the passage of 101 years before someone would finally reach the summit. This demonstrates how all though the expedition to the top was not easy, and would require the lives of many men, people would not stop trying because that is human nature. Not all people climb Mt. Everest in their lifetime, but most people, if not all, work hard to achieve something or be successful. Whether that success may be in their professional life, their personal life, or anything else, Mt. Everest can symbolize all of it. It symbolizes a journey to success and relates to the theme of humans natural drive and passion to pursue what they want.
When Krakauer confesses his doubts to Hall, Hall responds, “‘It’s worked thirty-nine times so far, pal,’ Hall assured me with a crooked grin when I confessed my doubts. ‘And a few of the blokes who’ve summited with me were nearly as pathetic as you’” (74). However, this time it didn’t work, leaving Hall, some of his clients, and others dead with him. The reader is left with the overall question of what happened this year with better climbers that everything went
The passage in question is taken from Jon Krakauer’s personal account of his endeavour to summit Everest in 1996, and it is a description of Jon Krakauer’s experiences while at approximately 21,000 feet on the mountain itself. The book is called Into Thin Air, and was published a mere year after the tragedy that struck the team headed by Rob Hall, the founder of a mountaineering agency: Adventure Consultants. In this specific extract, Krakauer uses vivid imagery and similes in his description of the surroundings to show the obvious peril that climbing the most formidable peak on the planet entails. Additionally, he deploys diction that conveys his initial shock when he sees the corpses, as opposed to the other climbers, who seemed to be fairly
This is because, in the end, the two guides were not careful or safe, each for their own reasons. “Likewise since he had failed to get anybody to the top in 1995, it would have been bad for Hall’s business if he failed again in 1996-- especially if Fisher succeeded(285).” This is Hall’s reason for pushing forward, the fact that it would be bad for his business if he didn’t keep on pushing forward, especially since he “was charging $65,000 a head to guide clients to the top of the world(37).” Fisher's reason was that “Fisher had never guided Everest before 1996. From a business standpoint, there was a lot of pressure on him to be successful(285).”
The government tried to help the mountain climbers by sending helicopters on the mountain and look for survivors. Sadly, the helicopter is only limited to a certain height. Although people know the danger of the Annapurna massif, it is that danger that will keep people climbing the mountain. It is the challenge that makes them