Lesson learned: Don't climb Everest

I'll be up front. I have always been a fan of the work of Jon Krakauer. He has struck a reputation of being a top-notch outdoors journalist, carefully and obsessively researching topics before writing about them. "Into Thin Air," his personal account of the disastrous spring of 1996 on Mt. Everest, is no different. Expertly written and exhaustively researched, it captures the horror of being stranded at 24,000 feet above sea level with little hope of rescue.\n"Into Thin Air" recalls the events of the spring of 1996 on both the Tibetan and Nepalese sides of Mt. Everest, as well as the 150 years of mountain exploration that preceded it. The tallest peak on the planet has captured the imagination of mountaineering people worldwide since it was discovered to be the highest peak on the planet. \nFor many years after its designation as the highest mountain on the planet, Everest remained forbidden as it sat on the border of Tibet and Nepal -- two countries that were resolutely off limits to foreigners. It took more than 12 expeditions to finally reach the top of the forbidden, craggy peak; in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summited the 29,035 feet, instantly making them worldwide celebrities.\nIn the years that followed, Mt. Everest remained a place only for the mountaineering elite, and climbers were only invited on an Everest attempt after they proved themselves on the dangerous slopes of other mountains. This ceased when Dick Bass, a fabulously wealthy but inexperienced mountaineer, paid guides to lead him to the top of the mountain. From there a new world was born: the commercial Everest expedition.\nThis is how Jon Krakauer, an accomplished technical climber with no high-altitude experience, ended up climbing Mt. Everest. The Outdoor Magazine wanted a story on the commercialization of Everest; Krakauer was going as a field reporter, climbing the peak with other customers who paid up to $65,000 to summit the mountain. \nAs part of a commercial expedition, the Sherpa support, oxygen and necessary permits were arranged for the customers. All that was expected of them is that they were in reasonable physical condition and ready to be shepherded to the top of the mountain. The outfit Krakauer traveled with was led by a climber with a spectacular history of getting clients to the peak and down safely; the Kiwi guide, Rob Hall, was an accomplished Himalayan climber with sterling credentials.\nAfter acclimating his clients to the high altitude of Everest, Rob Hall's expedition, as well as a rival commercial expedition led by Scott Fischer, attacked the summit of Everest on May 10, 1996. What should have been a routine summit attempt turned into a struggle for climbers to survive a storm that pinned them to the mountain, resulting in the deaths of both expedition leaders, additional guides and several paying clients. \n"Into Thin Air" is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. The detail used to describe the agony of hypoxia experienced by the climbers is sobering. Clearly, climbing a mountain whose peak is approximately the cruising altitude of jetliners is not an endeavor to be tackled lightly. Krakauer uses his extraordinary gifts as a writer to place the reader right along side him on the mountain; the pain, terror and shame of the events is palpable. \n"Into Thin Air" should be required reading for anybody who dreams of touching the roof of the world. While it is at times graphic and disturbing, it is a sensitive look into the disaster that claimed the lives of so many. It does not look for easy answers for why people died, and Krakauer takes responsibility for his own actions that may have contributed to the deaths of some of his fellow climbers. Pick up "Into Thin Air" and you probably won't put it down until you turn the last page; it's that good.\nThe paperback edition of "Into Thin Air" has a list price of $13.00 and is available at several local retailers.