Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster Hardcover - 1997
by Jon Krakauer
Last spring, Jon Krakauer, the acclaimed author of "Into the Wild", undertook a magazine assignment about expensive adventure/thrill trips around the world. And, in May, he went with an expedition to Mt. Everest, investigating how wise or safe it is to tackle the world's tallest peak. When disaster struck, killing eight climbers, Krakauer survived by luck, skill, and discipline. Now, he has written the definitive account of this headline-making tragedy.
Summary
From the rear cover
When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top. No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning, he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were desperately struggling for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated.
Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the bestseller Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world. A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall's team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996.Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.
Into the Wild is available on audio, read by actor Campbell Scott.
From the jacket flap
When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top. No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning, he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were desperately struggling for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated.
Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the bestseller Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world. A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall's team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996.Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.
Into the Wild is available on audio, read by actor Campbell Scott.
Details
- Title Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster
- Author Jon Krakauer
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Pages 320
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Villard Books, New York
- Date 1997-04-22
- Illustrated Yes
- ISBN 9780679457527 / 0679457526
- Weight 1.35 lbs (0.61 kg)
- Dimensions 9.51 x 6.56 x 1.06 in (24.16 x 16.66 x 2.69 cm)
- Reading level 1320
-
Themes
- Cultural Region: Asian - General
- Library of Congress subjects Mountain Madness (Firm), Mountaineering expeditions - Everest, Mount
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 96030031
- Dewey Decimal Code 796.522
Excerpt
Media reviews
Citations
- ALA Best Books Young Adults, 01/01/1998, Page 1211
- Booklist, 04/01/1998, Page 1310
- Entertainment Weekly, 06/03/2011, Page 116
- Kirkus Reviews, 03/01/1997, Page 357
- Library Journal, 01/01/1997, Page 0
- Library Journal Prepub Alert, 01/01/1997, Page 72
- New York Times, 12/07/1997, Page 12
- Outside, 10/01/2007, Page 66
- Publishers Weekly, 03/17/1997, Page 63
- School Library Journal, 12/01/1997, Page 0
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