Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer Essay

Josh here ignores Peak for his entire life, no birthday presents, Christmas cards, not even a letter, just a pile of unopened mail he received over the course of ten years, that he sleeps next to every night. Then, he suddenly appears to bail Peak out of jail for scaling his sixth skyscraper, as he was finally caught- and arrested. During the trial, he finds that his mother called Josh, as a last resort, to help out. After the trial, he immediately left New York, except the destination was not where he thought he would be. Peak was expecting to land in Chiang Mai, but instead he was staying in a hotel in Bangkok, Thailand for the night. The next day, they left for Kathmandu (which Peak wasn’t informed of until a couple hours before the flight), which is where he learns that he is going to Mt. Everest. Yet, it’s bittersweet for Peak. It may be every climber's dream to climb Everest, but Peak also learns that the only reason he is doing this is to help his dad’s Josh’s business, also conveniently titled ‘Peak Experience’, with his debt by becoming the youngest person to ever go above 29,000 feet, and boosting his popularity for achieving this record. Josh also tells him that if he were older than 15, he most likely wouldn’t’ve bailed him, wouldn’t have taken him to Everest, and still would have nothing to do with

“You can never tell who the mountain will allow and who it will not.” The novel “Peak” by Roland Smith shows you the thrilling journey of climbing the tallest mountain in the world. Climbing a mountain for several months doesn’t just take physical strength, but also mental strength. The story takes you through Peak Marcello’s journey to become the youngest person in the world to climb Mt.Everest. “Peak” follows a theme of love, family, and most of all survival.

Another quote is, “Fischer made a number of impressive ascents that earned him a modicum of local renown, but celebrity in the world of the climbing community eluded him,”(Krakauer, 68). This quote shows that Fischer didn’t

In order to continue climbing Everest, many aspects of climbing need to be improved before more people endanger their lives to try and reach the roof of the world. The guides have some areas that need the most reform. During the ascension of Everest the guides made a plethora mistakes that seemed insignificant but only aided in disaster. The guides first mistake is allowing “any bloody idiot [with enough determination] up” Everest (Krakauer 153). By allowing “any bloody idiot” with no climbing experience to try and climb the most challenging mountain in the world, the guides are almost inviting trouble. Having inexperienced climbers decreases the trust a climbing team has in one another, causing an individual approach to climbing the mountain and more reliance on the guides. While this approach appears fine, this fault is seen in addition to another in Scott Fischer’s expedition Mountain Madness. Due to the carefree manner in which the expedition was run, “clients [moved] up and down the mountain independently during the acclimation period, [Fischer] had to make a number of hurried, unplanned excursions between Base Camp and the upper camps when several clients experienced problems and needed to be escorted down,” (154). Two problems present in the Mountain Madness expedition were seen before the summit push: the allowance of inexperienced climbers and an unplanned climbing regime. A third problem that aided disaster was the difference in opinion in regards to the responsibilities of a guide on Everest. One guide “went down alone many hours ahead of the clients” and went “without supplemental oxygen” (318). These three major issues: allowing anyone up the mountain, not having a plan to climb Everest and differences in opinion. All contributed to the disaster on Everest in

As an experienced mountaineer, Krakauer’s childhood dream had been to climb Mount Everest. This lingering dream was triggered with a full blast when he accepted the offer of being on Rob Hall’s leaded expedition as a reporter for Outside magazine. Krakauer had to change his attitude from a free-willed climber to an obedient client on the team and was concerned about his other fellow clients when they were first acquainted. “ In outlook and experience they were nothing like the hard-core climbers with whom I usually went into the mountains”. (Krakauer 39) In previous years, Krakauer had always climbed alone or with some trusted friends. He came to realize that one must completely rely on the guide instead of other clients on a guided expedition. After meeting the other clients, Krakauer develops a sense of superiority as he is one of the most experienced climbers on the team. It shocked him when the author found out that clients Beck Weathers, Stuart Hutchinson, and Lou Kasischke never tried on their mountaineering boots beforehand and Hutchinson even failed to notice his crampons (steel spikes that are attached to the bottom of boots to help with ice climbing) did not fit his boots. As the expedition drags on, Krakauer became more acquainted with the rest of his team members and has a change in mindset. “I learned that between the demands of their families and their high-powered careers, few of my fellow clients had had the opportunity to go climbing more than once or twice in the previous year…. But maybe I’m just being a snob, I scolded myself.” Krakauer admits through this context that he is deeply concerned about his inexperienced teammates although he realized that it is not up to him to worry about such things. He came to realize that although many other clients were extremely unexperienced, their goal to summit the

Being responsible is a huge factor in guiding a mountain climbing team. There are a lot people on each team, and some are more experienced then others, so it takes a lot of coordination and cooperation from everyone. Rob Hall, because of his experience, knew he was responsible for making sure that everyone on his team was prepared for the summit of Everest. With that knowledge Rob Hall utilized his organization skills and "he'd fine-tuned a remarkably effective acclimatization plan" (p.74) that would enable all members of the team to adapt to the scarcity of oxygen in the atmosphere. Along with making sure he had an arrangement for how to acclimatize his team he also managed to consult "with the leaders of all the expeditions planning to climb Everest in the spring," and they agreed on which team "would be responsible for establishing and maintaining a route through the icefall" (p.80). Rob Hall had a very heavy load that he was responsible for as a guide in 1996 and he demonstrated how reliable he was in the way he took care of business using his ability to plan ahead and stay organized.

He was a Sherpa that was extremely good in climbing, he was a part of Fischer’s crew. He could

Many factors contributed to the bottlenecks between Camp Four and the summit, including: The fact that no Sherpas left ahead of the climbers to fix ropes to aid in climbing above the Balcony, which left the climbers waiting while Beidleman, a guide, fixed the ropes; the Taiwanese team, who were climbing very slowly and all together, making it impossible to pass them, therefore creating delays for the climbers behind them; and the fact that once the ascent had begun, Hall’s Sherpas were not eager to assist in fixing the ropes, presumably because they were angry that Fischer’s Sherpas were not sharing the workload as had been originally planned.

Lack of psychological safety within the team members failed to fix cognitive bias of irrationality. If members developed trust within the team, cognitive bias could have been prevented or at least minimized. The truth that climbers might make irrational decisions and find it hard to turn back when they are so closed to the summit was obvious, but teammates seeing this problem did not speak up since they did not feel that their thoughts were welcome and felt uneasy. More cognitive biases could also been prevented to lessen the complex system of the expedition. Since climbing Mt. Everest is already a high risk venture, any additional problems such as irrational decisions can cause a crisis. Using the early sign of issues with Hall’s team’s progress, it was obvious that the probability of failing the expedition was high before the team even started. Hall could have used the issues as a sign of the complex systems that exist, and could have used this knowledge to prevent any irrational decisions. The complex systems and the lack of psychological safety also contributed to the tragedy. The team members failed to communicate and trust each other, which then added more problems to the complex systems. For instance, Boukreev’s could have spoken up to his team leader, Fischer, about his concerns regarding his team members lacking experience to begin with. By speaking up, he could have prevented more chain reaction due to lack of communications and feedback within the

One of the most important qualities that an elite climber must have is leadership. The elite climbers and guides must be able to meet a number of new people that are strangers to each other and build some sense of a team. Krakauer does not have a strong background in leading groups or building comradery, which is key for a climb like Everest. Krakauer says himself, “In climbing, having confidence in your partners is no small concern” (40). He also mentions how the actions of one climber can “affect the welfare of the entire team” (40). The type of group he climbed with on

Several expeditions set out to take on Mt. Everest In 1996. Jon Krakauer is assigned by Outside Magazine to write about the journey through Mt. Everest. It is Krakauer's lifelong dream to climb Mt. Everest. He has climbed many times before not never at such a high altitude. His team was led by Rob Hall, one of the most respected climbers of that time. His team is made up of many different people with

Mount Everest is 29,092 feet tall. Imagine climbing this mountain with little to no experience. Would you survive? In the nonfiction novel Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer and his recruited crews try climbing this mountain. With many deaths along the way to the top, readers are quick to blame characters in the book. However, character stands out from the rest: Krakauer. In the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer is the most responsible for the other character’s deaths because he recruited and dragged along inexperienced mountain climbers, pushed them harder than they should’ve been pushed, and watched them suffer.

With death being an inevitable conclusion to life, it can be said that the true value of a life is not determined by how long it was lived or what was done during its time, but from what it left behind. In a sport of pushing the physical and psychological boundaries, climbers seek recognition in their achievements, whether it is by finding a new climb that will measure its test of time or being the first to climb a daunting line

Many people have dreamed of climbing the tallest mountain on earth, Mount Everest. However one must possess certain physical and mental attributes to accomplish this giant feat. “Courage is not having the strength to go on: it's going on when you don't have the strength.” Ed Viesturs knows first-hand what having courage is all about although you’ve used all your strength. He kept going to reach his goal even after he faced life threatening obstacles.

The urgency to sell adventure to anyone who would pay or bring publicity was not the only stressor Hall and Fisher were under. Another factor was the amount of pressure on both of the guides to run a successful business. Although they were friends, they were also rivals. The previous year, Hall failed to actually get any of his clients to the top of the mountain. Fisher, while he was a well-respected climber and had even scaled Everest without oxygen, had never led a guided tour before. He was set on obtaining a few high-profile clients to get his business off the ground. Both men were under tremendous pressure to do well this season. This contributed to their decision to push past the deadlines to turn back, as well as to bring unprepared clients.