'A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism. 'Into Thin Air ranks among the great adventure books of all time.' - Wall Street Journal One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley. It doesn’t shy away from beauty and ugliness, and that’s a potent, haunting combination. Unbeknownst to Krakauer at the time, however, many of his teammates get caught in the middle of a deadly snowstorm. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions. Into Thin Air is a long-form poem to Everest and human endeavour. On the afternoon of May 10, 1996, Jon Krakauer makes it back to his tent, having climbed to the summit of Mount Everest exhausted, he falls into a deep sleep. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape.Īs the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day, eight people were dead. In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest, when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended in the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history.

Into thin air book