REVIEWS
'Into Thin Air':
A grueling climb
By Matt Bowling
Krakauer’s Everest account starts out slow but picks up speed.
For most people, the concept of spending tens of thousands of dollars to risk dying a horrible death is not an appealing one. Nevertheless, each year still brings a fresh crop of climbers to Tibet and Nepal as they attempt to climb Mount Everest. For those who lack the time, money, or nerve to attempt the world’s tallest peak, there are a number of resources that can allow one to vicariously participate in a climb while sitting on their living room sofa. One of those resources is "Into Thin Air," Jon Krakauer's first-hand account of the May 1996 blizzard that claimed eight lives. Perhaps in a similar fashion to actual climbs up Everest, Into Thin Air moves agonizingly slow, and only when disaster strikes does the story gain enough momentum to make the reader want to turn the page.
The story begins with Krakauer, who at that time was writing for "Outside" magazine, being assigned to report on the commercialization of Mount Everest. As a member of famous expedition guide Rob Hall’s team, Krakauer makes it to the summit but is caught in a storm on the way down. Though he escapes with his life, several other climbers aren't so lucky, and Krakauer attributes their deaths in part to the expedition guides placing greater importance on outdoing rival companies than the safety of their clients.
While Krakauer’s highly detailed style of writing is part of what makes his blizzard sequences so riveting, it also makes the initial stages of the book feel like a chore. Some of the earlier chapters feel as if they’ve been taken straight out of a history textbook, and Krakauer teaches more about the various aspects of mountaineering than the average reader would likely care to know. The book’s accuracy has also been called into question, as Krakauer neglects to mention the fact that the climbers were aware of the impending storm, having received weather reports in the days before. Leaving out this piece of information undermines the scope of human responsibility for the disaster, as it leads the reader to believe the expedition guides didn’t know the blizzard was coming.
For those with a strong interest in mountaineering, "Into Thin Air" is a good choice. However, others will likely find it a bit too dense. Potential readers who are interested in the story but aren’t willing to put forth the effort required to get through the book should instead take a trip to the theater and see Baltasar Kormákur’s new blockbuster "Everest," which follows a similar narrative to "Into Thin Air."