Into Thin Air
When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10,1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29,028 feet (roughly the cruising altitude of an Airbus jetliner), twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the sky had begun to roil with clouds...Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed Outside journalist and author of the bestselling Into the Wild. Taking the reader step by step from Katmandu to the mountain's deadly pinnacle, Krakauer has his readers shaking on the edge of their seat. Beyond the terrors of this account, however, he also peers deeply into the myth of the world's tallest mountain. What is is about Everest that has compelled so many poeple--including himself--to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense? Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.From the Paperback edition.
Stats for nerds
69recommend
95mentions
88people
2008–2026years
80% recommend19% neutral1% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- "Into thin air" by Jon Krakauer. A really fascinating book about the disaster on Mount Everest in 1996 where 8 people died on a single day due to extreme weather. If you are into that kind of books "No Way Down: Life and Death on K2" by Graham Bowley is also worth a read.
- I could absolutely not do this, but "Into Thin Air" (which mentions Green Boots many times) is a great book. Highly recommended.
- Fun coincidence! I just finished rereading No Way Down and started rereading Into Thin Air both of which are great books.
For the sherpa’s perspective I can recommend Buried in the Sky and Higher than Everest, although they’re more biographical than disaster store like the two books above.
- I got into mountaineering (movies) after reading Into Thin Air, about the disaster atop Mount Everest in 1996. Haunting story, fantastic book.
For real life lost at sea stories, there’s “438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea” telling the story of fisherman Salvador Alvarenga that spent more than a year adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
- I think the larger risk is lowering the bar even further for who could climb Everest. Anything that makes climbing “easier” could put more people on the mountain that aren’t fit enough or trained enough to handle problems with the climb. In the death zone, any issue, mistake, or problem is potentially fatal. Since just moving up and down the summit puts people at the absolute limit of exertion, attempting to help someone having an issue could domino into multiple fatalities.
The book “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer is an amazing firsthand account of the 1996 Everest disaster. The book does a great job helping you really understand how far your body is pushed in the death zone, and how you truly have nothing left to do anything other than get one foot in front of the other in a race against time. Just sitting down to “rest” was a likely death sentence and how people had to walk past because stopping to try and help would have likely meant sitting down next to them to die.
- If you're interested in Everest, I loved Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer - it's absolutely fantastic and available on Audible. Then last week I discovered Everest on Netflix, which isn't great but it's based on the book and they do a good job showing you the route and distances between the camps with CGI.
Anyways, after all that I have zero desire to ever go near Everest or any other risky mountain climb.
