This peice will suprise people because it was based on a true story. Into thin Air was a great adventure book. The author of this book was actually there. He worked for a magazine who covered the climb. This story was very tragic because people died due to someone elses carelessness.
Into Thin Air
Jon Krakauer
English 102
Laura James
October 14, 2005
Into Thin Air has a lot of adventure in it. If you sit down and think about each character in the story as a hero, you can come up with some interesting points. Let’s take a look. We have Scott Fischer who was the leader of Mountain Madness Guided Expedition. I have mixed feelings about him. One of the reasons I feel like this is because he told his Sherpa Ngawang to descend to base camp because of symptoms of HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema); the Sherpa did not. Scott Fischer knew the culture, he knew that Ngawang wouldn’t descend because in his culture any Sherpa who openly acknowledges the he has HAPE will be put on a black list and would not be able to work on expeditions. Unfortunately Ngawang died within a week from HAPE. But on the other hand Scott was a strong person who has been to the top of Everest before and has gotten people up there and some would say he was a hero for that, just not me. As far as the dreadful day when Scott lost his life he was not using good judgment that day because of the altitude in which he should have turned around. He was sick with a bug that lays dormant for days and sometimes months, but when he was stressed or tired it showed up. By the time hey got to summit ridge Scott was way behind and very “wasted” looking. To me that should have been a warning sign. Biedleman gathered all of Scott’s clientele and started them down. That was another mistake.
Now let us look at Rob Hall. He was a very successful climber and business man. He was the leader and head guide of Adventure Consultants Guided Expedition. Mr. Hall has climbed many mountains and Everest. It was hard to get sponsors when he was climbing so that is when he decided to start Adventure Consultants. Through out the book Rob seemed like he was looking out for everybody not just his group. He would even go help other climbers who are having trouble climbing between the different camps, even Sherpas. He had big dreams to help people get up and down Everest and other mountains which helps them accomplish there dreams. Rob tried to help people who got stuck on May 10. He too lost his life. Yes I would consider him a hero. He put other’s needs before his own. He enjoyed what he did for a living and tried to bring that joy to others. He was very considerate and knowledgeable; if it wasn’t for him many more people would have lost their lives during this expedition not just on May 10.
Jon Krakauer is a journalist from Outside magazine. He was to do an article on the expedition. Mr. Krakauer was very experienced in mountain climbing but has not done Everest. One thing that bothered me was that when other groups where climbing he noticed they were not very experienced or knew how to operated equipment. I think he should have said something or tried to teach them while they were going up and down the mountain between base camp and camp one. Not only is it high elevation and cold but you are climbing a mountain with ice. If the guides wasn’t around then they probably wasn’t going to be around when they get high up. But for the most part, I consider Mr. Krakauer a hero. He helped when he could especially people in his own team. He is very knowledgeable about climbing and he knew how to get the people he was with to open up. He tried to help on that dreadful day but he was too exhausted from climbing down in a freezing snow blizzard. I felt he was there to record what happened. Of course this is his book. I feel like Mr. Krakauer is a hero because he was able to let family members and friends along with the general public know what happened and why some of them did not come home. This was a very tragic story and he brought it to life. I can not say he lied or understand exactly why so many people were sour with him because I have not read any other pieces about this. To me he told what he saw and the events that happened. It takes someone very courages to do this. He had to face the deceased family, the press, critics, not to mention questioning
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