Into Thin Air

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Into Thin Air

Jon Krakauer

Travel & Adventure

Aug 11, 2018

Commissioned by Outside magazine to deliver an article on the rise of Everest as an expensive theme park—once a trip for only the most experienced adventurers, an ascent to the peak was increasingly being marketed as an invigorating holiday for any amateur with $65,000 to spare—Krakauer, a seasoned climber, had been given the opportunity to fulfill a youthful ambition. And on the morning of May 10, after fifty-seven hours without sleep, he indeed reached the summit and stood with one foot in Nepal, one in Tibet. As he began the difficult descent, an unexpected storm struck. Although Krakauer struggled safely back to his camp, more than two dozen climbers, from his own and other parties, were still on the mountain. Krakauer’s gripping account of the events of that tragic day, from the rigors of his own experience to the deadly horrors the fatal storm delivered, is one of the most riveting and harrowing adventure stories ever told, set down, as the author puts it, in “the calamity’s immediate aftermath, in the roil and torment of the moment.”

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James O'Doherty

Feb 23, 2019

Fascinating insights into the commercial squalor and very real physical challenges on top of the world. Krakauer's account gripped my attention from the word go. I also bought a wonderful illustrated edition

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