In 1996 Jon Krakauer was sent by Outside magazine to participate in an expedition to climb Everest. He went, as one of a growing number of paying clients, with a well known climber from New Zealand by the name of Rob Hall. In exceptionally good weather Krakauer reached the summit on May 10, one of a number of climbers who summited that day. Of those five were from his own team, however, the summit came at a terrible cost. By the end of the next day four out of the five were dead, victims of a rogue storm that blew in without warning and by the time Krakauer reached Base Camp a total of nine climbers from four expeditions were dead.
When the article was published some five weeks later, Krakauer hoped he would be able to begin healing the wounds of the disaster. It soon became clear, however, that a tight deadline, poor editing and the effects of oxygen depletion had allowed some inaccuracies to enter into the article and the disaster remained on his mind. The more Krakauer spoke to others who had been around at the time the more the effects that altitiude was having on peoples memories became clear. Although cautioned against it by his colleagues, Krakauer set about interviewing and re interviewing participants from his own and other expeditions. Using these interviews and factual information such as radio logs from Base Camp, he slowly managed to piece together the most accurate account of the events possible.
A long winded description of each footfall on the route to the summit this book is not. It is a riveting, and in places graphic account, of what went wrong for a number of expeditions on Everest that summer. It is expertly told by an experienced moutnaineer who has written for Outside magazine for a number of years and also published a number of bestselling books. Although first published in 1996, Into Thin Air does not feel dated and like Krakauer’s other bestseller Into the Wild, the true story of John McCandless who died trying to survive off the land in Alaska, it is available in the JC Lisbon Library, which is located next to the Senior Rates Mess.