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Into Thin Air

84 pages • 2 hours read

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-Epilogue

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Into Thin Air is American is authored by professional mountain climber Jon Krakauer . It is a personal account of attempting to ascend Mount Everest, prompted by an assignment from Outside magazine to cover the commercial development of the communities at the mountain’s base. Krakauer’s climbing attempt, which was fatal for several, became the deadliest expedition ever on the mountain. In the book, he reflects on his experience, reporting it as truthfully as possible.

Krakauer recalls being inducted into the climbing group Adventure Consultants. Led by Rob Hall , the group’s goal was to accelerate the process of learning the ins and outs of Mount Everest before ascending to the summit, and providing climbing guides and administrative assistance. Krakauer discusses how the Everest climb was split up into a sequence of five camps, which included an initial Base Camp followed by Camp One through Camp Four. Krakauer’s group spent weeks training at Base Camp, after which they repeatedly ventured up the mountain to the other camps. Once spring began to wind down in early May, his party resolved to attempt the summit.

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Krakauer tries to assemble an accurate and chronological account of the deadly ascent. Every member of Adventure Consultants struggled to adjust to the high altitude, which led to fatigue and weight loss, impeding climbing speed. Krakauer recalls many of the members being too inexperienced to go far without the assistance of the guides. Many mistakes were made in ascending the mountain, but none proved severe until the final push to the summit. Rob Hall announced a time cut-off of 2:00 p.m. for the summit, after which anyone who hadn’t already reached it must turn back. When 2:00 rolled around, only a few, including Krakauer, had reached the summit; however, the time cut-off was not enforced, leading to arrivals as late as 4:00 p.m. Rob Hall arrived at that time with Doug Hansen and a separate group which included Scott Fischer.

Not long after the full party had ascended, it began storming on the mountain. Krakauer, who made it down to Camp Four only partially deterred by the storm, had no idea how the rest of his group was faring. Meanwhile, Hansen and Hall became stranded and died, despite the rescue efforts of fellow guide, Andy Harris , who died as well. A separate party got lost in the storm and was rescued, with two individuals missing and presumed dead. Fischer was left on the mountain, unable to continue, and later died.

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Fortunately, one of the two presumed dead, Beck Weathers, made it back to Camp Four. Having suffered severe frostbite in multiple locations, he later had several surgeries and amputations. Krakauer was permanently scarred by his experience, which began as a plan to simply report activity on Everest’s base. In total, twelve people died on the mountain that season.

Krakauer published his article. He says he wrote Into Thin Air because the article couldn’t present the entirety of his experience. He claims that his interviews with survivors added perspectives and information that he never could have surmised alone, given the intensity and danger of the blizzard. Krakauer admits he suffers from survivor’s guilt and still deals with the trauma of being brought so close to death.

Krakauer recognizes that his story might incense some readers who feel that it dishonors the climb’s victims. Though he apologizes should that be the case, he says he is committed to relaying the ordeal accurately. In addition to a journalistic endeavor, Into Thin Air is a survivor’s attempt to find catharsis through a literary rendering of trauma.

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Into Thin Air

Jon krakauer.

Danger and Mortality

A simple question hangs over Into Thin Air : why would people travel to the other side of the world and pay lavish sums of money to risk their own lives on the slopes of Mount Everest ? In general, why would anyone climb mountains for fun, when the mortality rate for mountaineers is alarmingly high? As Jon Krakauer shows, mountaineers enjoy climbing Everest not in spite of the danger, but because of it. The…

The Natural World

Another important theme of Into Thin Air is the natural world. Climbers choose to ascend mountains, not just because of the inherent danger of doing so (see above), but also because of the mountains’ sublime beauty and majesty—qualities that civilization cannot rival. The characters in the book believe that they can use their training, technology, and intelligence to “conquer” Everest. However, the 1996 Everest disaster provides them an unforgettable reminder of nature’s awesome power—power that…

Commercialization

As Krakauer sees it, there are two ways to climb a mountain: 1) by oneself, with no one else’s help; or 2) in a tour group, as part of a large commercial business (which charges its clients many tens of thousands of dollars). While both forms of mountaineering can be found on Mount Everest , Krakauer argues that it’s getting increasingly difficult to practice the first. The Nepalese government now requires all independent Everest climbers…

Individualism and the Group

In the forty-odd years since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first human beings to climb to the summit of Mount Everest , the sport of mountaineering has experienced some major changes. Climbing Mount Everest has largely become a group activity, where before it was usually a challenge for a single, determined climber, or, at most, two climbers with a close bond of friendship and talent. While Krakauer spends many pages dissecting why…

In the final chapters of Into Thin Air , it becomes clear that guilt is one of the key themes of the book. On the afternoon of May 10, 1996, Jon Krakauer makes it back to his tent, having climbed to the summit of Mount Everest ; exhausted, he falls into a deep sleep. Unbeknownst to Krakauer at the time, however, many of his teammates get caught in the middle of a deadly snowstorm. One…

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Into Thin Air

An in depth rhetorical analysis of into thin air by jon krakauer donivan duncan dempsey 11th grade.

In Jon Krakauer's personal account of the 1996 Mt. Everest Disaster called “Into Thin Air”, Krakauer expresses his disbelief for the fatal accident through various shifts in tone from somber to solemn, or even a journalistic tone. Krakauer places the blame of the accident on the inexperience and conceit of his fellow climbers and guides. Krakauer also expresses his indignation that the commercialization of mountaineering, especially on Mt. Everest, has led to the deaths of many inexperienced climbers. Throughout his story, Krakauer attempts to convince the reader of these opinions through the use of various rhetorical strategies such as foreshadowing, allusions to personal anecdotes of other individuals who were on the mountain at that time, analogies that work to express the imagery of the scene on Everest, appeals to Krakauer's ethics, exaggeration of certain elements to express his personal feeling of an occurrence, and simile and metaphors of actions and scenery in order to express an image to the reader or to get a feeling across to the reader. Such elements are only some of the various types of strategies Krakauer employs to show his true feeling of the occurrences in 1996 on Mt. Everest.

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