Into Thin Air: What do I think?

Mother nature who shows no mercy

Many may be familiar with the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, a true series of events that will go down in mountaineering history. This tragedy is shared by American writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer, one of the few survivors of this casualty. Jon Krakauer encountered this disaster first hand and lived to tell it, by documenting it through his bestselling non fiction book Into Thin Air .

Krakauer sets the tone of the story with one lingering statement:

“I’d been fantasizing about this moment, and the release of emotion that would accompany it, for many months. But now that I was finally here, actually standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, I just couldn’t summon the energy to care.”

(Krakauer 5)

Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air. Anchor Books, 1999.

This quote goes to show that reaching the top of the world amounts to almost nothing when you are facing one of the biggest physically and emotionally demanding tasks of your entire life. Maybe climbing to the tallest point of the world is more demanding of suffering and pain, rather than rewarding. Any reward that Jon may have been feeling in that moment has been overshadowed by the amount of pain he has endured, and he realizes that he must continue to endure this pain for the entire trip down the mountain.

It is outlandish to me as to why anyone would play in a game of chance against mother earth to climb one of the most dangerous slopes of the world. Mount Everest is unpredictable and unforgiving, and anyone that would risk their life checking off their bucket list is beyond my understanding and logic. Even the smallest of storms unnoticed could be lethal when climbing in extreme conditions.

However, humans love a good challenge. Tell them something is impossible and the next thing they will do is figure out a way to do the impossible. We as humans cannot accept the fact that some goals cannot be reached, and once Mount Everest was discovered to be the tallest peak in 1852, we reached the top of the world 100 years after.

“Once Everest was determined to be the highest summit on earth, it was only a matter of time before people decided that Everest needed to be climbed”

(Krakauer 14)

Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air. Anchor Books, 1999.

Although specialists and trained individuals can recognize that this mountain is one of the most dangerous mountains in the world with over 300 deaths, people still romanticize the idea of reaching the top. This brings me to the question of why?

Why in the world would anyone risk their lives attempting such a dangerous stunt?

Hopefully completing this book will give me some answers. Is it worth putting your body through excruciating pain to climb a mountain? And is it worth watching your partners and friends die? Jon Krakauer’s documented experience of this climbing disaster may help me understand why.

Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air. Anchor Books, 1999.