Summary Of Jon Krakauer's Essay 'Into Thin Air'

Many factors contributed to the bottlenecks between Camp Four and the summit, including: The fact that no Sherpas left ahead of the climbers to fix ropes to aid in climbing above the Balcony, which left the climbers waiting while Beidleman, a guide, fixed the ropes; the Taiwanese team, who were climbing very slowly and all together, making it impossible to pass them, therefore creating delays for the climbers behind them; and the fact that once the ascent had begun, Hall’s Sherpas were not eager to assist in fixing the ropes, presumably because they were angry that Fischer’s Sherpas were not sharing the workload as had been originally planned.

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh is famous for his reverence for the present moment over all else. Hanh has been quoted saying, “No one has ever lived in the past or the future- only the now.” Hanh’s teachings are a reminder of mindfulness that is usually lost on Western culture. In his book, Into the Wild, documenting the later life and expansive journey of Christopher McCandless, Jon Krakauer proposes the importance of living in the moment. Krakauer suggests a sentiment similar to that of Thich Nhat Hanh by framing Alex’s life in a way that highlights a lack of importance on the future and the past, and establishes emphasis on the moment.

The author Jon Krakauer uses Christopher Johnson McCandless from Into The Wild, and Beck Weathers, Scott Fischer, Doug Hansen and himself, from Into Thin Air to show the importance of being well prepared. Combined with their poor judgement of the surroundings, Christopher McCandless, Jon Krakauer, Doug Hansen and Beck Weathers each make very rash decisions when difficult circumstances arise, they fail to cope with the situation which leads to their downfall. Furthermore, Christopher McCandless, Jon Krakauer, Beck Weathers, and Doug Hansen are all motivated to push through; even though their bodies are at their limits. Additionally the arrogance foolishness, and underestimation of extreme conditions along, with minimal experience causes their

Mountain climbing is viewed as an extremely dangerous sport, especially if you're daring enough to climb the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is about author and mountain climber, Jon Krakauer who was hired to write an article about the commercialism on Mount Everest, decides to climb the mountain unaware that he had just joined what had been the most catastrophic Everest expedition ever. Into Thin Air intended to create tension as well as suspense throughout the book. Tension refers to a sense of uncertainty and a straining feeling in the audience. Like tension, suspense give you a feeling of uncertainty but also anticipation and curiosity to what is going to happen next and the outcome.

In the novel “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer tells the story of a Chris McCandless through different points of view perceived from people close to him. Despite the fact the Krakauer did not personally know Chris McCandless, Krakauer uses opinions from himself and others to help conclude meaning and impact behindMcCandless’s journey. Krakauer introduces events in the story in an order such that it also introduces the significance behind them. These techniques help the reader conclude the mystery behind Chris McCandless’s journey.

Despite his impressive record he had never attempted anything close to the scale of Everest, whose summit is at an extremely dangerous altitude. He even admits to his relative inexperience with high altitude saying, “Truth be told, I’d never been higher than 17,200 feet--not even as high as Everest Base Camp”(28). Krakauer also mentions how he has gotten out of shape over the years partially because of the lack of climbing in his life, making him even less prepared for the assent. Krakauer shows a definite fear of such a high mountain, referring to climbers who have perished in the past. He states that, “Many of those who died had been far stronger and possessed vastly more high-altitude experience than I.” (28). Even though Krakauer’s experience may be more relevant to the Everest assent than some of the other tourist climbers, it is nowhere near the level needed to be considered an elite climber.

Mount Everest is 29,092 feet tall. Imagine climbing this mountain with little to no experience. Would you survive? In the nonfiction novel Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer and his recruited crews try climbing this mountain. With many deaths along the way to the top, readers are quick to blame characters in the book. However, character stands out from the rest: Krakauer. In the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer is the most responsible for the other character’s deaths because he recruited and dragged along inexperienced mountain climbers, pushed them harder than they should’ve been pushed, and watched them suffer.

Jon Krakauer, the author of Into Thin Air, uses and creates tension and suspense throughout the book by the order of events, using devices such as pacing and foreshadowing, and by employing organizational patterns. Tension is a strain or tense feeling that the book gives to the reader and the author usually creates tension to raise the emotional level of the story. Suspense is the anticipated feeling the reader experiences when waiting for the outcome of the events of the story and the author creates suspense to keep the readers hooked. Jon Krakauer uses these literary effects to really connect with his reading audience.

In order to continue climbing Everest, many aspects of climbing need to be improved before more people endanger their lives to try and reach the roof of the world. The guides have some areas that need the most reform. During the ascension of Everest the guides made a plethora mistakes that seemed insignificant but only aided in disaster. The guides first mistake is allowing “any bloody idiot [with enough determination] up” Everest (Krakauer 153). By allowing “any bloody idiot” with no climbing experience to try and climb the most challenging mountain in the world, the guides are almost inviting trouble. Having inexperienced climbers decreases the trust a climbing team has in one another, causing an individual approach to climbing the mountain and more reliance on the guides. While this approach appears fine, this fault is seen in addition to another in Scott Fischer’s expedition Mountain Madness. Due to the carefree manner in which the expedition was run, “clients [moved] up and down the mountain independently during the acclimation period, [Fischer] had to make a number of hurried, unplanned excursions between Base Camp and the upper camps when several clients experienced problems and needed to be escorted down,” (154). Two problems present in the Mountain Madness expedition were seen before the summit push: the allowance of inexperienced climbers and an unplanned climbing regime. A third problem that aided disaster was the difference in opinion in regards to the responsibilities of a guide on Everest. One guide “went down alone many hours ahead of the clients” and went “without supplemental oxygen” (318). These three major issues: allowing anyone up the mountain, not having a plan to climb Everest and differences in opinion. All contributed to the disaster on Everest in

Two noticeably famous people who have climbed the ruthless mountain Everest, Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmand Hillary, are possibly the best 2 climbers that have been around, and If I had to choose between the two, I would pick Norgay. When deciding between the two I had to think about several things, and one of them is the advantages of having both people with myself. Nonetheless, I concluded that they were both bold and that they were willing to do anything to go 29,000 feet. They were both someone who knew about the land, and knew what to do, and not what to do. “At that great moment for which I had waited all my life, my mountain did not seem to me a lifeless thing of rock and ice, but warm and friendly and loving.” (Norgay Page 42) Even

In Jon Krakauer’s book, “Into Thin Air”, there were a significant amount of deaths involved. Eight people lost their lives on the most disastrous Everest expedition in history. Was anyone responsible for these deaths? This question has many answers based on different people’s opinions. I think that the person that is held accountable for their deaths should be Jon Krakauer. He was selfish and didn’t do much to help others when they needed it.

On May 10, 1996 six people died trying to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. These people were parts of two expeditions that were in the Himalayas, preparing to ascend the summit for six weeks. The first group was under the direction of Rob Hall, who had put 39 paying clients on the summit in five years. Hall was considered the leader of the mountain and the man to see no matter what the discrepancy. Group two, headed by Fisher, who like Hall, was trying to start a profitable business in providing the experience of climbing Mt. Everest to all for the price of 60 to 70 thousand dollars. Unfortunatly, neither man would live to tell the tale of this expedition.

Multiple people died on Everest in the spring of 1996, but there were many causes to the deaths of those climbers. One of the main causes was the overconfidence by multiple people on the mountain. The book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer states, “One of the first people I passed when I started moving again was Scott Fischer's sirdar, Lopsang Jangbu, kneeling in the snow over a pile of vomit . . . His feeble state, moreover, had been compounded by his insistence on "short-roping" the celebrity amateur, Sandy Pittman . . . ” (Krakauer 176). In this quote from the book, it says that Lopsang chooses to “short rope” Sandy Hill Pittman, and because of this he gets sick. He was overconfident in his abilities, and this caused him not to set the fixed ropes at the Hillary

You wouldn't believe that two of the best climbing guides on Mount Everest could be so different. Both guides are brilliant men clever in the ways of climbing, but with two personalities both on either end of the spectrum. One guide is logical and organized when planning any climb while the other approaches things haphazardly leaving plans in disarray. The two guides, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, from Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air, exhibit these two personalities throughout the progression of the book. Rob Hall is the organized guide who always plans ahead while Scott Fischer is rash and spontaneous. One could also claim that because of Rob Hall's expert planning skills, his responsible nature, and his abilities and experience with

Lack of psychological safety within the team members failed to fix cognitive bias of irrationality. If members developed trust within the team, cognitive bias could have been prevented or at least minimized. The truth that climbers might make irrational decisions and find it hard to turn back when they are so closed to the summit was obvious, but teammates seeing this problem did not speak up since they did not feel that their thoughts were welcome and felt uneasy. More cognitive biases could also been prevented to lessen the complex system of the expedition. Since climbing Mt. Everest is already a high risk venture, any additional problems such as irrational decisions can cause a crisis. Using the early sign of issues with Hall’s team’s progress, it was obvious that the probability of failing the expedition was high before the team even started. Hall could have used the issues as a sign of the complex systems that exist, and could have used this knowledge to prevent any irrational decisions. The complex systems and the lack of psychological safety also contributed to the tragedy. The team members failed to communicate and trust each other, which then added more problems to the complex systems. For instance, Boukreev’s could have spoken up to his team leader, Fischer, about his concerns regarding his team members lacking experience to begin with. By speaking up, he could have prevented more chain reaction due to lack of communications and feedback within the