The series of events which led to me picking up this book started with a rather unusual phone call to my sister. The call went something like this:
Sister: Dude, I’m too busy to talk right now. I’m looking up bodies on Mount Everest.
Me:
Sister: Seriously. Look it up.
Slightly disturbed, I did not look it up.
Curiosity got the better of me two days later. I Googled “Everest bodies.”
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
If you’re at all squeamish, don’t Google “Everest bodies”
Thankfully, I am not squeamish. I spent two hours pouring over websites and Wikipedia pages — found the Everest (2015) movie and beelined to the library — and I haven’t been able to entirely shake this morbid fascination since first discovering it back in July. Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s pretty grotesque for people to be posting pictures of dead climbers all over the internet … but, it’s such a weird part of the Everest climbing culture.
Into Thin Air is Jon Krakauer’s personal account of the 1996 Everest Disaster – when 8 climbers died following a summit attempt. The facts surrounding the event are well-documented (or, at least as well-documented as can be given the fact that (1) eight witnesses died and (2) the rest were affected by high-altitude hypoxia) — and the Wikipedia article offers a pretty good summary and analysis. What Into Thin Air offers is a raw, emotional, and personal retelling – published within the year of the event occurring.
The book is a bit slow to start, but builds quickly … And I may or may not have stayed up until 1:45AM last night to finish it off. Krakauer does an amazing job stirring summit fever in readers. I was putting down the book constantly to gawk at Everest videos: what the ice fall actually looks like — the Lhotse face — and that summit (oh my, that summit!).
… I calculated how long it would take for me to save up $65K+ to join an expedition
… I dropped the idea of an Everest attempt while chatting with my dad
… I searched for local ice climbing and outdoor survival clubs
… then the body count started to rise
… and I switched my internet search to “Galapagos vacations”
The Details:
- The Book: Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
- Published: 1997, Villard
- My Copy: Library copy
- Read date: January 13-17, 2019
- Rating: ★★★★★
- You should read this if you like … humbling real life adventures
- Avoid this if you dislike … hypothermia
The Geeky Jock 