Into Thin Air (2 page)

In March 1996,
Outside
magazine sent me to Nepal to participate in, and write about, a guided ascent of Mount Everest. I went as one of eight clients on an expedition led by a well-known guide from New Zealand named Rob Hall. On May 10 I arrived on top of the mountain, but the summit came at a terrible cost.

Among my five teammates who reached the top, four, including Hall, perished in a rogue storm that blew in without warning while we were still high on the peak. By the time I’d descended to Base Camp nine climbers from four expeditions were dead, and three more lives would be lost before the month was out.

The expedition left me badly shaken, and the article was difficult to write. Nevertheless, five weeks after I returned from Nepal I delivered a manuscript to
Outside
, and it was published in the September issue of the magazine. Upon its completion I attempted to put Everest out of my mind and get on with my life, but that turned out to be impossible. Through a fog of messy emotions, I continued trying to make sense of what had happened up there, and I obsessively mulled the circumstances of my companions’ deaths.

The
Outside
piece was as accurate as I could make it under the circumstances, but my deadline had been unforgiving, the sequence of events had been frustratingly complex, and the memories of the survivors had been badly distorted by exhaustion, oxygen depletion, and shock. At one point during my research I asked three other people to recount an incident all four of us had witnessed high on the mountain, and none of us could agree on such crucial facts as the time, what had been said, or even who had been present. Within days after the
Outside
article went to press, I discovered that a few of the details I’d reported were in error. Most were minor inaccuracies of the sort that inevitably creep into works of deadline journalism, but one of my blunders was in no sense minor, and it had a devastating impact on the friends and family of one of the victims.

Only slightly less disconcerting than the article’s factual errors was the material that necessarily had to be omitted for lack of space. Mark Bryant, the editor of
Outside
, and Larry Burke, the publisher, had given me an extraordinary amount of room to tell the story: they ran the piece at 17,000 words—four or five times as long as a typical magazine feature. Even so, I felt that it was much too abbreviated to do justice to the tragedy. The Everest climb had rocked my life to its core, and it became desperately important for me to record the events in complete detail, unconstrained by a limited number of column inches. This book is the fruit of that compulsion.

The staggering unreliability of the human mind at high altitude made the research problematic. To avoid relying excessively on my own perceptions, I interviewed most of the protagonists at great length and on multiple occasions. When possible I also corroborated details with radio logs maintained by people at Base Camp, where clear thought wasn’t in such short supply. Readers familiar with the
Outside
article may notice discrepancies between certain details (primarily matters of time) reported in the magazine and those reported in the book; the revisions reflect new information that has come to light since publication of the magazine piece.

Several authors and editors I respect counseled me not to write the book as quickly as I did; they urged me to wait two or three years and put some distance between me and the expedition in order to gain some crucial perspective. Their advice was sounds, but in the end I ignored it—mostly because what happened on the mountain was gnawing my guts out. I thought that writing the book might purge Everest from my life.

It hasn’t, of course. Moreover, I agree that readers are often poorly served when an author writes as an act of catharsis, as I have done here. But I hoped something would be gained by spilling my soul in the calamity’s immediate aftermath, in the roil and torment of the moment. I wanted my account to have a raw, ruthless sort of honesty that seemed in danger of leaching away with the passage of time and the dissipation of anguish.

Some of the same people who warned me against writing hastily had also cautioned me against going to Everest in the first place. There were many, many fine reasons not to go, but attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically irrational act—a triumph of desire over sensibility. Any person who would seriously consider it is almost by definition beyond the sway of reasoned argument.

The plain truth is that I knew better but went to Everest anyway. And in doing so I was a party to the death of good people, which is something that is apt to remain on my conscience for a very long time.

Jon Krakauer

Seattle

November 1996

Mount Everest Spring 1996
^*

Rob Hall

New Zealand, leader and head guide

Mike Groom

Australia, guide

Andy “Harold” Harris

New Zealand, guide

Helen Wilton

New Zealand, Base Camp manager

Dr. Caroline Mackenzie

New Zealand, Base Camp doctor

Ang Tshering Sherpa

Nepal, Base Camp sirdar

Ang Dorje Sherpa

Nepal, climbing sirdar

Lhakpa Chhiri Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Kami Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Tenzing Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Arita Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Ngawang Norbu Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Chuldum Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Chhongba Sherpa

Nepal, Base Camp cook

Pemba Sherpa

Nepal, Base Camp Sherpa

Tendi Sherpa

Nepal, cook boy

Doug Hansen

USA, client

Dr. Seaborn Beck Weathers

USA, client

Yasuko Namba

Japan, client

Dr. Stuart Hutchison

Canada, client

Frank Fischbeck

Hong Kong, client

Lou Kasischke

USA, client

Dr. John Taske

Australia, client

Jon Krakauer

USA, client and journalist

Susan Allen

Australia, trekker

Nancy Hutchison

Canada, trekker

Scott Fischer

USA, leader and head guide

Anatoli Boukreev

Russia, guide

Neal Beidleman

USA, guide

Dr. Ingrid Hunt

USA, Base Camp manager, team doctor

Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa

Nepal, climbing sirdar

Ngima Kale Sherpa

Nepal, Base Camp sirdar

Ngawang Topche Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Tashi Tshering Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Ngawang Dorje Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Ngawang Sya Kya Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Ngawang Tendi Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Tendi Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

“Big” Pemba Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Jeta Sherpa

Nepal, Base Camp Sherpa

Pemba Sherpa

Nepal, Base Camp cook boy

Sandy Hill Pittman

USA, client and journalist

Charlotte Fox

USA, client

Tim Madsen

USA, client

Pete Schoening

USA, client

Klev Schoening

USA, client

Lene Gammelgaard

Denmark, client

Martin Adams

USA, client

Dr. Dale Kruse

USA, client

Jane Bromet

USA, journalist

David Breashears

USA, leader and film director

Jamling Norgay Sherpa

India, deputy leader and film talent

Ed Viesturs

USA, climber and film talent

Araceli Segarra

Spain, climber and film talent

Sumiyo Tsuzuki

Japan, climber and film talent

Robert Schauer

Austria, climber and cinematographer

Paula Barton Viesturs

USA, Base Camp manager

Audrey Salkeld

U.K., journalist

Liz Cohen

USA, film production manager

Liesl Clark

USA, film producer and writer

Wongchu Sherpa

Nepal, sirdar

Jangbu Sherpa

Nepal, lead camera Sherpa

“Makalu” Gau Ming-Ho

Taiwan, leader

Chen Yu-Nan

Taiwan, climber

Kao Tien Tzu

Taiwan, climber

Chang Jung Chang

Taiwan, climber

Hsieh Tzu Sheng

Taiwan, climber

Chhiring Sherpa

Nepal, sirdar

Kami Dorje Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Ngima Gombu Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Mingma Tshering Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Tenzing Nuri Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Dorje Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Pasang Tamang

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Ki Kami Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Johannesburg
Sunday Times
Expedition

Ian Woodall

U.K., leader

Bruce Herrod

U.K., deputy leader and photographer

Cathy O’Dowd

South Africa, climber

Deshun Deysel

South Africa, climber

Edmund February

South Africa, climber

Andy de Klerk

South Africa, climber

Andy Hackland

South Africa, climber

Ken Woodall

South Africa, climber

Tierry Renard

France, climber

Ken Owen

South Africa, journalist and trekker

Philip Woodall

U.K., Base Camp manager

Alexandrine Gaudin

France, administrative assistant

Dr. Charlotte Noble

South Africa, team doctor

Ken Vernon

Australia, journalist

Richard Shorey

South Africa, photographer

Patrick Conroy

South Africa, radio journalist

Ang Dorje Sherpa

Nepal, climbing sirdar

Pemba Tendi Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Jangbu Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Ang Babu Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Dawa Sherpa

Nepal, climbing Sherpa

Todd Burleson

USA, leader and guide

Pete Athans

USA, guide

Jim Williams

USA, guide

Dr. Ken Kamler

USA, client and team doctor

Charles Corfield

USA, client

Becky Johnston

USA, trekker and screenwriter

Mal Duff

U.K., leader

Mike Trueman

Hong Kong, deputy leader

Michael Burns

U.K., Base Camp manager

Dr. Henrik Jessen Hansen

Denmark, expedition doctor

Veikka Gustafsson

Finland, climber

Kim Sejberg

Denmark, climber

Ginge Fullen

U.K., climber

Jaakko Kurvinen

Finland, climber

Euan Duncan

U.K., climber

Henry Todd

U.K., leader

Mark Pfetzer

USA, climber

Ray Door

USA, climber