Lucas Robbins

Book Title: Into Thin Air

Author: Jon Krakauer

# of Pages: 301 + a prelude and Author’s Note /  Postscript

Rating: ☆☆☆☆

           

            Imagine the cruising altitude of a passenger jet, soaring through the sky at around 30,000 feet. Now imagine being able to feasibly touch said airliner from the ground as it travels over the land. Tucked away in the high plateau of Tibet, a giant waits: Sagarmāthā. Better known to the general public as Mt. Everest, 29029 feet high; otherwise known as the highest point on Earth.

           

            Jon Krakauer begins the story observing the surrounding landscape from the summit of Mt. Everest where all he can see through the ice-ridden goggles is white and grey landscapes and the tumultuous clouds rumbling towards the mountains. Then the reader is taken back to the events leading up to this surrealistic moment. An experienced mountaineer from Seattle who was currently a writer for Outside Magazine lands the opportunity for a fully funded trip to climb Everest with the infamous Rob Hall of New Zealand.

            In 1996, Krakauer climbs back into the saddle of mountaineering and heads across the world to Nepal where the adventure begins. As the weeks leading into the main ascent unravel, a larger theme starts to develop. A theme of greed and ego driven expeditions continually grow throughout the story and hits in full effect when some climbers are just summitting three hours after the given turnaround point with the ominous storm looming just off the side of Everest.

            Krakauer continual use of uncensored detail and tone set the tone for the course of events. From the heart-felt stories that were told in Base Camp to the many near death events, including hypoxia led lies and little oxygen intake memory, that happened further up, one can truly put themselves in the place of Krakauer as he chronicles his climb to the Summit. Through this use, no works of literature can compare to the vast chronicle that is Into Thin Air.

            As long as people are knowingly willing to experience the full might of Everest within two covers, and some semi-graphic content, any reader will find that this account is well worth the read. If not read for the deeper message, then one can still find enjoyment in the retelling of a successful Everest Summit.