This semester I taught Into Thin Air to a group of gr. 12 students. After hearing the description they admitted they were "kind of looking forward" to it. And as we read, they kept requesting to read more, to find out what would happen.
I consider that a win.
So what is the big deal about Jon Krakauer's memoir of the Everest disaster that captured these reluctant readers' attention? What has prompted student projects, debate, controversy, and movie adaptations? And what do I think of it all?
In May 1996, Jon Krakauer joined a team to climb Everest. He was able to forgo the typical $65,000 fee because he was sponsored by a magazine to write a story about the commercialization of Everest. He ended up being caught in a deadly storm on his descent from the summit, a storm that would claim the lives of guides, sherpas, and other climbers.
I am generally not drawn to nonfiction, but I have been making an effort to read more. This was my first time reading this book with students, and I have to say, I did enjoy it. Of course, it helped that it was relatively engaging for them, too. It reads more like an adventure story than a typical nonfiction book, which makes it much more readable for me, too.
Krakauer's memoir sparked controversy among climbers and the family members of those who perished on the mountain. Many question why he didn't do more to save those stranded or injured. Some say he was too harsh on other climbers and guides. It is easy for him to say now, after the fact, what should and should not have been done. And there is a decidedly arrogant tone that he affects throughout the memoir.
To be fair, he addresses these concerns, and others, specifically throughout the book.
What I love about the memoir, though, is not the excitement of survival, or the controversy surrounding it. It is the question of what the hell people are doing climbing Everest in the first place.
“It was titillating to brush up against the enigma of mortality, to steal a glimpse across its forbidden frontier. Climbing was a magnificent activity, I firmly believed, not in spite of the inherent perils, but precisely because of them.”
I have never been someone who understood the allure of death-defying feats. I frequently joke that I completely lack adrenaline. Perhaps it is my over-developed sense of self-preservation, but when I am scared, adrenaline does not take over. I do not go from terrified, to facing the fear, to a sense of accomplishment and relief. I go from terrified, to facing the fear, to thinking it was stupid and not worth facing.
Needless to say, I see no draw in climbing Everest.
What is it about life that makes some people only feel alive when challenging death?
The tragedy on Everest was terrible, yes. But every climber had to know what he or she was risking. I am not dismissing their deaths and injuries. Nor am I ignoring the incredible feats of survival, and the coming together that so many did to rush to the rescue of the climbers. Beck Weathers alone deserves a special shout-out; his story is insane!
Krakauer spends a lot of the book trying to explain to people like me why climbers spend thousands of dollars, risk their health and even their lives, for a relatively small chance to stand on "top of the world" for a few seconds.
I still don't get it, but that isn't the point.
What is the point?
Human beings, in comparison to nature, come up pitifully short.
Some of the people who died were woefully ill-prepared. Some were considered experts. All were knocked down by the force of nature.
People dare to climb for prestige, to belong to an elite group, for the thrill of getting to say, "Yeah, I did that." And Mother Nature is more than willing to take that feather out of their caps, and crush it beneath her heel.
Or beneath a tumbling rock.
I am all for facing a challenge; I just don't understand why someone would risk everything to try to conquer nature. Nature cannot be conquered. And certainly not nature as personified by "Sagarmatha", the tallest mountain in the world. And, if you do want to attempt the summit, understand the smallness of your inconsequential existence in relation to all the force of the mountains and the storms.
Overall, this is a quick-paced read. I rated it 3.5/5 stars, but when in doubt I always round up.
If you like survival stories, or if you are interested in the controversy of Everest and humanity's entitled approach to climbing it, then I would say give this book a try.
Do you like other nature-books? Don't forget to check out my recommendations for Earth Day on which this book was one of the books featured.
Have you read this or other Krakauer books? Do you understand the allure of wanting to do something like climb Everest? Is there just something I am missing here?
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