Riveting - But Tread Carefully

Reviewer: N. Van Der Leek "Outstrong" (South Korea) - See all my reviews

(Review for Amazon.com - Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer)
This account ignited a long distilled passion for the mountains, and renewed interest in the Outdoors. Krakauer (the name itself conjures up courage and strength)writes with immediacy and more important, from firsthand experience. He's a hardcore adventurer, he's lived it, and is one of those rare, original people able to express what is often inexplicable. This book was easy to read in one or two sittings, and tremendously compelling (leading me to read Into The Wild and other books related to the 1996 Everest incidents).

I was also one of those chagrined to discover, after having loved and being incredibly excited by this book, that for all its accuracy, there are some areas that should not be read without circumspection. Although the book mostly avoids The Blame Game, it lapses into this once focus moves to the Head Climber of Mountain Madness, the heroic but inarticulate Boukreev. Krakauer's facts are interspersed with some opinions, and a few of these opinions, especially those of Boukreev (who died in 1997, in an avalanche on Annapurna 1, instead of remaining in America to receive one of the highest awards for mountaineering bravery) - some of these opinions are distasteful.

While I am merely a reader, and I respect and admire the talents of these men in the mountains a great deal, I do wonder what prompted Krakauer to pursue his character assasination of Boukreev. Krakauer has dogged determination in his writing as much as he does in his climbing, but also a stubbornness, and in writing Into Thin Air (which he did incredibly quickly after the fact) seems to strive to be seen as the one and only leading authority, acknowledging that it is not perfect, but nevertheless the complete'the best'and total story of that 1996 climb. This is unfortunate, because Krakauer himself was on the mountain, and his own perceptions were not 100%. He does succeed in communicating his experience with profundity. He fails though, in a few of his many interpretations, including of some of his own mishaps, and thus, has opened the door to a raging debate on 'what really happened', including, for example, what happened to Andy Harris, his encounter on the Kangshung Face, and important conversations he was not privy to close to the summit.

His 'Postscript' response to The Climb goes to great lengths, and like the rest of the book, turns out to be well worded, but does not hide what eventually are borne out to be a few inaccuracies (inadequacies?). His experience on Everest is not his best mountaineering experience (he was at one point assisted by 2 guides), and Boukreev fared far far better. Actions, should at the end of such events, speak louder than Krakauer's (or anyone else's) words, and Boukreev's actions do. Krakauer's behaviour on that day was quite limited by comparison.

Krakauer needs to be more gracious to a man who helped insure the safety of every one of the members on his team (all but the leader survived,) with no permanent damage, while 4 members of Krakauer's team died, and at least one survivor had severe and permanent damage. The idea should not be to blame people in mountains, when things go wrong, but to recognise the right things that happen that save lives.

Krakauer's own account of his meeting with Beck Weathers also differs from Weather's own version. Krakauer actually resisted Weather's desperate plea for assistance, although Krakauer paints a more gracious picture of himself in his story. The point though, is not to point fingers, and Boukreev puts it perfectly when he says 'each is responsible for his own ambition' on the mountain. Thus, others should not be blamed when things go wrong, but hopefully, will have the wherwithal to respond in these extreme circumstances. The reality in the Death Zone is one person who breaks down, slows down, and needs assistance causes a domino effect, it leads to an exponential increase in the risks to the lives of others, as valuable resources of energy and oxygen and time get used up.

We live in world of soundbites, of show, and of course the 1996 Incident has been written about, and made into a television show.

Into Thin Air powerfully communicates the meaning and drama of that high world. It's most important defects though, are not recognising the astonishing courage of a man who stood up through the storm that day while it seemed everyone else, including the sherpas, whimpered in their tents. Few understand what happened, and Into Thin Air sadly perpetuates that mystification as far as it communicates Broukeev's role. Read The Climb after Into Thin Air, for more perspective. It's equally engrossing, well written, but a far more genuine account.