Whether it is in work, school or social activities, everyone has a summit they want to climb, their own Everest. For Jon Krakauer, an avid climber from youth, Everest was his Everest. Into Thin Air, is his account of the dreadful expedition on May, 10, 1996 where a storm hit an expedition trying to summit Everest, killing twelve of the climbers. For this post I am going to generally stay away from summarizing the story, and try to see what lessons can be learned from this daring tale. What I found so profound about the story was the emotion Krakauer put into it, emotion that could only have been from one that personally went through the ordeal. While retelling the story, Krakauer's remorse at certain points for not helping when he was absolutely exhausted is palpable. While he does blame other factors for the disaster, he never rules out his own culpability. Doing this, especially when at 29,000 feet, is truly impressive when it is nearly impossible to focus due to lack of oxygen in the thin air.
The first lesson I saw from this story, was the crazy want of people to climb Everest in the first place. As Krakauer puts it: "No matter how much you pay, even with all the assistance the Sherpas and the guides provide, it's still an incredible amount of work. No one can haul you up Everest. You can't just buy the summit. You've got pay with sweat and puke and maybe with your life. That is worth some grudging respect." An axiom I have heard frequently is "the best things in life don't come easy". It seems that this is most true when dealing with Everest. To reach the "roof of the world" was the goal of many climbers, to defeat the world's biggest obstacle. Krakauer explains this may have well been one of the reasons that accidents can happen, the undying push to get to the top, when there is nothing left to go down. Therefore, what was most intesresting about Krakauer's way of telling the story, was the lack of information about him getting tot he summit. He mentions it, but it lasts only a page or two in the lengthy novel. Rather, he focuses on what happened to each and every other person during the storm that took twelve lives. To be able to separate his own accomplishments from the story that needed to be told is a great virtue. Many times, specifically in education, the "agenda" of the teacher turns paramount while the students are not necessarily given everything they need. To be able to put oneself aside, and look at the bigger picture, is a important value that I took out.
Another is keeping to safety rules, especially with other factors telling you to ignore them. Basically, the deadline set by the lead guide Rob Hall to get to the top, or turn around was 2 PM. For some reason 2 PM came and past and Hall was still leading people to the top. Krakauer relates that had he turned everyone around like he initially said, the expedition would have avoided the storm, but only two climbers would have made the summit. Krakauer explains that he believes the reason for this was commercialization of the mountain. Hall hadn't got anyone to the summit in his last tour and a new expedition, led by Scott Fisher, was threatening his livelihood. Also, because of the rising cost of permits to climb, each client had to pay $65,000 to be part of the trip. All these reasons, Krakauer describes, acted as the push that led Hall to continue upwards into a precarious situation. Specifically in this case, it must be noted that with the limited oxygen in the air it is very hard to make the right choices in such grueling conditions. However, when we are on the ground we have to learn from Hall that competition or other ancillary parts should never get in front of our true goals.
All in all, Into Thin Air is a fantastically written account of event that took twelve lives. We should all try to live our lifelong goals, as Jon Krakauer did, but should be blessed to have them happen without the tragedy that befell this group.
