Between reading a practical blog post on how to take better photos in Nepal and the Himalayas and a Sherpa's account of the dangerous fight that took place on Everest in April this morning, I have Nepal on the brain. To be fair, I always have Nepal on my mind... it's not always at the forefront, but it's there, lingering, waiting to be brought back into the limelight. Seeing a single mention of my favorite country that I haven't visited sends me down an internet rabbit hole, feasting my eyes on every bit of news, history, and Sherpa culture that I can find. I've had a love affair with Nepal since some time in 2009, when I read an article about trekking the Annapurna Circuit before it's completely paved over and commercialized. I may have missed the boat on that one, but I still desperately want to trek in the country that houses the roof of the world. I want to get a peek of that roof. Which brings me to reading Into Thin Air, journalist Jon Krakauer's harrowing account of his 1996 Mt. Everest summit climb. I can't believe it took me so long to read this book. I read it in three days, and I might re-read it. It's that... well, before I ascribe adjectives to it... let me review it.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Summary
John Krakauer is a world-renowned writer and journalist, but before he was all that, he was an avid, respected mountain climber. He has summited some of the world's highest and most dangerous peaks. After getting married and growing a little gray, he thought those days were behind him. When Outside magazine asked him to join an expedition to Mt. Everest Base Camp in Nepal, his love of mountaineering and dream of one day summiting the world's highest mountain returned with ferocity. He told the magazine he'd do it - but only if he climbed the whole way up. The magazine agreed, and he found himself on the mountain in 1996, the year a dangerous storm took the lives of eight people on the mountain, including four members of his expedition. The book is his account of the events that took place.
Quotes
“Above the comforts of Base Camp, the expedition in fact became an almost Calvinistic undertaking. The ratio of misery to pleasure was greater by an order of magnitude than any mountain I'd been on; I quickly came to understand that climbing Everest was primarily about enduring pain. And in subjecting ourselves to week after week of toil, tedium and suffering, it struck me that most of us were probably seeking above all else, something like a state of grace.”
“We were too tired to help. Above 8,000 meters is not a place where people can afford morality."
My thoughts
I don't remember the disaster on Mt. Everest in 1996. I was in 5th grade, so it's easy to imagine the news passed me by. I have a hard time putting in to words what this book made me feel: remorse for the lives lost, captivated by the beauty, loneliness, and strife wrapped up in the lonely peak of Everest, entranced by Krakauer's story and the adventure of it all, and deeply moved by his honesty and pain. Krakauer wrote the book six months after the blizzard took the lives of his fellow climbers and guides that had become his friends, and his experience and memories and feelings are still raw. He writes in his usual investigate, fact-telling style of journalism, but pours more of himself into it than in anything else of his I've read. Krakauer introduces every member of the Adventure Consultants 1996 expedition with care and gratitude, humanizing them in what amounts to beautiful memorials of their experience, drive, and hope. He is honest about his own shortcomings, as well as the seemingly simple but fatal mistakes made that day on the mountain. He blames himself at times and heartrendingly admits that May 10-12, 1996 will haunt him for the rest of his life. I recommend this book to anyone interested in adventure travel, hiking, mountaineering, Nepal, Sherpa culture, or investigative and memoir writing.
Summary
John Krakauer is a world-renowned writer and journalist, but before he was all that, he was an avid, respected mountain climber. He has summited some of the world's highest and most dangerous peaks. After getting married and growing a little gray, he thought those days were behind him. When Outside magazine asked him to join an expedition to Mt. Everest Base Camp in Nepal, his love of mountaineering and dream of one day summiting the world's highest mountain returned with ferocity. He told the magazine he'd do it - but only if he climbed the whole way up. The magazine agreed, and he found himself on the mountain in 1996, the year a dangerous storm took the lives of eight people on the mountain, including four members of his expedition. The book is his account of the events that took place.
Quotes
“Above the comforts of Base Camp, the expedition in fact became an almost Calvinistic undertaking. The ratio of misery to pleasure was greater by an order of magnitude than any mountain I'd been on; I quickly came to understand that climbing Everest was primarily about enduring pain. And in subjecting ourselves to week after week of toil, tedium and suffering, it struck me that most of us were probably seeking above all else, something like a state of grace.”
“We were too tired to help. Above 8,000 meters is not a place where people can afford morality."
My thoughts
I don't remember the disaster on Mt. Everest in 1996. I was in 5th grade, so it's easy to imagine the news passed me by. I have a hard time putting in to words what this book made me feel: remorse for the lives lost, captivated by the beauty, loneliness, and strife wrapped up in the lonely peak of Everest, entranced by Krakauer's story and the adventure of it all, and deeply moved by his honesty and pain. Krakauer wrote the book six months after the blizzard took the lives of his fellow climbers and guides that had become his friends, and his experience and memories and feelings are still raw. He writes in his usual investigate, fact-telling style of journalism, but pours more of himself into it than in anything else of his I've read. Krakauer introduces every member of the Adventure Consultants 1996 expedition with care and gratitude, humanizing them in what amounts to beautiful memorials of their experience, drive, and hope. He is honest about his own shortcomings, as well as the seemingly simple but fatal mistakes made that day on the mountain. He blames himself at times and heartrendingly admits that May 10-12, 1996 will haunt him for the rest of his life. I recommend this book to anyone interested in adventure travel, hiking, mountaineering, Nepal, Sherpa culture, or investigative and memoir writing.
