Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Chapter 3 Quote
"As the helicopter droned toward Lukla, I suspected that each of my teammates hoped as fervently as I that Hall had been careful to weed out clients of dubious ability, and would have the means to protect each of us from one another's shortcomings." -Narration by Krakauer, page 40 -Significance: In this quote, Krakauer is demonstrating the amount of faith he and the other clients are putting in Hall's ability to lead an expedition. They all understand that a majority of the group being amateurs means that Hall, solely, has to ensure they all survive.
Chapter 6 Quote
"But if the Icefall was strenuous and terrifying, it had a surprising allure as well. As dawn washed the darkness from the sky, the shattered glacier was revealed to be a three-dimensional landscape of phantasmal beauty." -Narration by Krakauer, page 83 -Significance: This quote is representative of Everest as a whole and is partly responsible for why people attempt to climb it. People see the mountain and understand the danger it presents, but something about its beauty lures them in.
Title Card
Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer Philip Root - M1
Chapter 9 Quote
"'Don't write yourself off just yet, Douglas,' Rob offered. 'Wait and see how you feel in a couple of days. You're a tough bastard. I think you've still got a good shot at the top once you recover.'" -Rob Hall to Doug Hansen about his frozen larynx, page 129 -Significance: This quote has a touch of foreshadowing as it represents one of the reasons that Krakauer later states caused the disasters that take place. Hall is constantly pushing climbers that probably shouldn't be going up Mount Everest to make it to the summit, in order to make his company look better. This then spreads his attention too thin and causes him to lose sight of important details, leading to disaster.
Chapter 15 Quote
"'It was so obvious that all of you were completely exhausted that I didn't even consider asking. You were so far past the point of ordinary fatigue that I thought if you attempted to help with a rescue you were only going to make the situation worse-that you would get out there and have to be rescued yourself.'" -Hutchinson to Krakauer on why he didn't try again to wake him for a rescue attempt, page 221 -Significance: The main part of why so many people were stranded without the ability of rescue was that the people available to help were badly beaten down by the climbing they had already down. Hall had pushed the team so hard that there was no one left with any strength when things went sideways.
Chapter 20 Quote
"After the rescue team dispersed, I sat in the snow for a long while by myself, staring at my boots, endeavoring to get a grip on what had happened over the preceding seventy-two hours. How could things have gone so haywire? How could Andy and Rob and Scott and Doug and Yasuko really be dead? But try as I might, no answers were forthcoming. The magnitude of this calamity was so far beyond anything I'd ever imagined that my brain simply shorted out and went dark. Abandoning my hope of comprehending what had transpired, I shouldered my backpack and headed down into the frozen witchery of the Icefall nervous as a cat, for one last trip through the maze of decaying seracs." -Narration by Krakauer, page 276 -Significance: After Krakauer attempts to wrap his brain around the events to transpire, he finds his mind blank. The pure shocking and incomprehensible tragedies that have occurred numb Krakauer. He is left to blankly descend to ensure that he makes it out alive.
Chapter 16 Quote
"And if Andy had never arrived at Camp Four after reaching the summit, what in the name of God had happened to him?" -Narration by Krakauer, page 231 -Significance: Krakauer had believed he helped Harris reach the camp the prior night, but upon awakening, he realizes he was mistaken. He searches the mountain for a body, but no one ever finds it. Harris simply vanished and that is symbolic of the danger of Everest in itself: peacefully deadly.
Chapter 11 Quote
"Chen's death cast a pall over the mountain as rumors of the accident spread from tent to tent, but thirty-three climbers would be departing for the summit in a few short hours, and the gloom was quickly banished by nervous anticipation of what lay ahead. Most of us were simply wrapped too tightly in the grip of summit fever to engage in thoughtful reflection about the death of someone in our midst. There would be plenty of time for reflection later, we assumed, after we all had summitted and got back down." -Narration by Krakauer, page 163 -Significance: This quote has aspects of foreshadowing, as Krakauer states they would have time to mourn later. He doesn't know yet how true that really is, as later they will have to mourn and reflect on more than just Chen's death.
Chapter 19 Quote
"Confronted with this tally, my mind balked and retreated into a weird, almost robotic state of detachment. I felt emotionally anesthetized yet hyperaware, as if I had fled into a bunker deep inside my skull and was peering out at the wreckage around me through a narrow, armored slit." -Narration by Krakauer, page 257 -Significance: When Krakauer hears the full extent of the damage the expeditions underwent during their summit attempt he is shocked. It is hard to comprehend how a business dedicated to getting people to the top of Mount Everest could be so bad at their main objective.
Chapter 5 Quote
"He cared little for material things but he hungered for respect and he was acutely aware that in the culture in which he lived, money was the prevailing gauge of success." -Narration by Krakauer describing Fischer, page 70 -Significance: In this quote, Krakauer describes how Fischer didn't really care about having material wealth but his drive for success was so intense he realized it relied on it. This drive may ultimately be the cause of Fischer's downfall, as he pushes too far to impress those around him.
Chapter 21 Quote
"Hubris probably had something to do with it. Hall had become so adept at running climbers of all abilities up and down Everest that he got a little cocky, perhaps. He'd bragged on more than one occasion that he could get almost any reasonably fit person to the summit, and his record seemed to support this. He'd also demonstrated a remarkable ability to prevail over adversity." -Narration by Krakauer, page 284 -Significance: Hall had all the tools to ensure that his clients could make it up the mountain. But as all who grow too big of egos, he overlooked details of their trip and grew too cocky. In the end, if Hal would have obeyed his own rules, like the turn around times, and payed more attention to the weather everyone probably would have been safe.
Chapter 14 Quote
"It had been a little sketchy there for a while, but in the end everything had turned out great. It would be many hours before I learned that everything had not in fact turned out great-that nineteen men and women were stranded up on the mountain by the storm, caught in a desperate struggle for their lives." -Narration by Krakauer, page 203 -Significance: Upon reaching camp after the main struggles that Krakauer faced, he goes to sleep exhausted thinking that everyone persevered through the struggles as he had. However, he was utterly mistaken and wakes up the next day to learn of the dire situation.
Chapter 8 Quote
"It was as if there were an unspoken agreement on the mountain to pretend that these desiccated remains weren't real-as if none of us dared to acknowledge what was at stake here." -Narration by Krakauer, page 111 -Significance: Krakauer said this after the group passed two dead bodies. The group tries to ignore the bodies, and in turn, symbolically ignore the fact that they could end up in the same state.
Chapter 4 Quote
"Longtime visitors to the Khumbu are saddened by the boom in tourism and the change it has wrought on what early Western climbers regarded as an earthly paradise, a real-life Shangri-La." -Narration by Krakauer, page 47 -Significance: The increase of capitalism and tourism in the area in the area surrounding Everest has corrupted the culture of people in the area. Instead of their previously Earthly community, the Everest locals are attempting to cater to climbers for money.
Chapter 10 Quote
"People who don't climb mountains-the great majority of humankind, that is to say-tend to assume that the sport is a reckless, Dionysian pursuit of ever escalating thrills. But the notion that climbers are merely adrenaline junkies chasing a righteous fix is a fallacy, at least in the case of Everest. What I was doing up there had almost nothing in common with bungee jumping or skydiving or riding a motorcycle at 120 miles per hour." -Narration by Krakauer, page 139-140 -Significance: Krakauer in this quote is trying to shine some light on the realities of mountain climbing. Most think that mountain climbers are insanely chasing a high, but in reality, there are a slew of sane reasons that people are on the mountain.
Chapter 13 Quote
"Reaching the top of Everest is supposed to trigger a surge of intense elation; against long odds, after all, I had just attained a goal I'd coveted since childhood. But the summit was really only the halfway point." -Narration by Krakauer, page 189 -Significance: The danger, exhaustion, and difficulty that Krakauer has already faced and that he knows he is yet to face overshadows the fact he accomplished something amazing. Krakauer's mind is so crowded with fear he can't comprehend the extent of his feet while he is still on the summit.
Chapter 1 Quote
"Straddling the top of the world, one foot in China and the other in Nepal, I cleared the ice from my oxygen mask, hunched a shoulder against the wind, and stared absently down at the vastness of Tibet. I understood on some dim, detached level that the sweep of earth beneath my feet was a spectacular sight. I'd been fantasizing about this moment, and the release of emotion that would accompany it, for many months. But now that I was finally here, actually standing on the summit of Mount Everest , I just couldn't summon the energy to care." -Narration by Jon Krakauer, page 7 -Significance: Krakauer had been dreaming of accomplishing his goal of reaching the top of Mount Everest for quite some time and imagined what he would feel upon accomplishing it. However, perception is different from reality, and Krakauer's reaching of the summit is bittersweet because of all the sacrifice and exhaustion it took to reach.
Chapter 2 Quote
"The incumbent hazards lent the activity a seriousness of purpose that was sorely missing from the rest of my life." -Narration by Krakauer, page 23 -Significance: This quote describes that Krakauer is attracted to mountain climbing because of its risky nature. The excitement and focus that climbing Everest takes adds a flare to his otherwise boring and empty life.
Chapter 12 Quote
"The night had a cold, phantasmal beauty that intensified as we climbed. More stars than I had ever seen smeared the frozen sky." -Narration by Krakauer, page 173 -Significance: Despite all the danger and disaster Krakauer is facing, he still takes time to reflect on the reason Everest is so appealing: the beauty. The environment and looks of peace and beauty that Everest has are a sharp contrast to the nature of being on it.
Chapter 7 Quote
"The slopes of Everest did not lack for dreamers the spring of 1996: the credentials of many who'd come to climb the mountain were as thin as mine, or thinner. When it came time for each of us to assess our abilities and weigh them against the formidable challenges of the world's highest mountain, it sometimes seemed as though half the population at Base Camp was clinically delusional." -Narration by Krakauer, pages 91-92 -Significance: This quote displays Krakauer's utter distrust of his fellow climbers' skill. He recognizes that just because they could pay to be lead up the mountain it doesn't mean that they actually have the skills to safely make it up.
Chapter 17 Quote
"These would be the last words anyone would hear him speak. Attempts to make radio contact with Hall later that night and the next day went unanswered. Twelve days later, when Breashears and Viesturs climbed over the South Summit on their way to the top, they found Hall lying on his right side in a shallow ice hollow, his upper body buried beneath adrift of snow." -Narration by Krakauer, page 247 -Significance: Again this quote demonstrates the deadly peacefulness of Everest. Hall is able to communicate with his wife before dying, as they both know it is inevitable. Hall isn't yet dead but he knows that he can't make it to safety. That leaves him to say his goodbyes and pass away peacefully on the side of the mountain in the cold.
Chapter 18 Quote
"They reported that one of the men, in his death throes, had torn off most of his clothing before finally succumbing to the elements." -Narration by Krakauer describing the Japanese team finding dead bodies, page 254 -Significance: This quote describes one of the possible dangers of Everest: you become so cold that your body tells you that you are hot and in a delirious state you take off your clothes to compensate, but that actually kills you. This is symbolic of the mountain as a whole: it lures in you, then tricks you into death.
Chapter 15 Summary and Characters
After Krakauer left the summit, Beidleman reaches the top alongside Boukreev, Harris, and Klev Schoening. Pittman, Hall, Mike Groom, and Yasuko Namba reach the peak next. Hours later Hansen and Fischer, whom Krakauer mentions from others' accounts was ill from an old intestinal parasite, make it to the top. Beidleman, believing Fischer is fine, begins his descent with Pittman, who has to take an injection to counteract her extreme altitude sickness. On the way down they see Martin Adams veering off the path and Weathers still waiting for a guide, both of whom they put on track back to camp. Before they can reach the tents, the group gets caught in a bad storm and end up wandering around lost only 1,000 ft from the tents. At the camp, Hutchinson, worried why no one else has returned, wanders around near camp banging pots to try to guide anyone who may be lost. When the storm breaks, Beidleman, Klev Schoening, and two Sherpas break off from the group to find the camp. Upon finding it, they tell Boukreev where the others are, and when he finds them Namba and Weathers are dead. Boukreev gets Pittman and Charlotte Fox up and leads them back to camp. Fischer: Was suffering from an intestinal parasite he got in Nepal and never got rid of. Namba: Ran out of oxygen at the South Col and was carried most of the way down. Mike Groom: Carries Namba and Weathers most of the way down the mountain. Beidleman: Lead the group off the path and caused them to get lost. Krakauer: Is too exhausted to help look for those who were lost. Tim Madsen: Looks after the rest of the group while Beidleman and others search for camp. Charlotte Fox: A doctor. Weathers: Got blown off the mountain.
Chapter 13 Summary and Characters
At the beginning of this chapter, the group reaches an area called the Death Zone, which has to be climbed quickly to reach the summit before oxygen runs out. Hall and Fischer decide to send two Sherpas to set up ropes throughout the Death Zone, but none end up going. Without the ropes set up, the climbers get stalled at 28,000 ft and some begin to worry that the group won't reach the summit by the turn around time. Krakauer discusses how it is difficult to turn around near the top after paying and suffering to get there'd how those who refuse to do so are dangerous. Upon reaching the Hillary Step, the group gets stalled again as the Sherpas refuse to put up the rope causing Beidleman, Harris, and Boukreev to do it themselves. The group takes the final climb to the top of the summit with Boukreev in front. Ang Dorje: Hall's Sherpa who continues to try to put up ropes but is delayed as he has no help. Taske and Hutchinson: Two climbers who turn back because they think the group won't reach the top by the turn around time. Boukreev: Ditched his extra oxygen and equipment to exert less energy, but is almost out of what he has left. Krakauer: Is more afraid of the decent upon reaching the summit than he is proud of what he accomplished.
Chapter 1 Summary and Characters
Chapter 1 begins with Krakauer already at the summit of Mount Everest (where he only spends five minutes), before jumping to his reflections on the trip. Krakauer ponders how people will ask him that after all the deaths and challenges he faced on the climb, why he would continue on. The narrative then focuses on Krakauer's decent plagued originally by the fact that he no longer has any oxygen after a mistake made by Harris. As Krakauer descends the Hillary step (the most dangerous part of the climb), three other teams of climbers are ascending the mountain. After reaching the South Summit and receiving more oxygen, Krakauer ponders the treachery the people going up the mountain will have to face. Anatoli Boukreev and Andy Harris: Two guides who reach the summit before Krakauer (Harris turns Krakauer's oxygen the wrong way and causes it to run out). Jon Krakauer: The narrator and main character of the story who is climbing Mount Everest. Rob Hall and Yasuko Namba: Guides the other members of Krakauer's team up the mountain after he has descended. Scott Fischer: Guides another team up the mountain and is an expert climber (climbs without extra oxygen).
Chapter 8 Summary and Characters
Chapter 8 starts with the group beginning their second acclimatization climb, spending two nights at camp one and three at camp two. After making it to camp one first, Krakauer helps a sherpa set up. On the way to camp two the group comes across a dead body, Hall thinks it is the body of a Sherpa who died long ago. After spending some time at camp two, Krakauer decides to climb ahead to speed up the process and finds another dead body. After meeting with the South African team and returning to his own camp, Krakauer describes how a Sherpa on Fischer's team got HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) and had to descend. After disobeying doctor's orders the Sherpa dies from his illness. Krakauer then contemplates how it is strange that people all over the world were following the story via livestream. Ang Dorje: Hall's main Sherpa, has climbed Mount Everest thrice. Harris: Goes to meet the South Africans with Krakauer. Caroline Mackenzie: The Base Camp Doctor Ngawang Topche: The sherpa who falls ill and dies. Neil Beidleman: Tries to help Topche down the Mountain. Sandy Pittman: An internet correspondent with Fischer's team, she has climbed the highest mountain on six of seven continents.
Chapter 6 Summary and Characters
Hall is working hard at keeping everyone healthy and ensuring they don't encounter anything unexpected on their climb. Krakauer then describes the strategy for the climb: set up four consecutively higher base camps on their way up the mountain and use them to store emergency supplies. Before they set off, Krakauer details how the Sherpas will have to carry all the gear and that he is worried about climbing with people who are out of practice. The group begins their climb over a valley before they ascend the Icefall (a dangerous glacier). They use an already laid out path to climb the Icefall with a technique that allows all the climbers to work individually (Krakauer is glad that he doesn't have to rely on the unexperienced people in his group). The Icefall was a hard climb, with the group not being fully acclimatized, but they eventually make it up the glacier; only to have to turn around and go back as some climbers were falling behind. Once back at Base Camp and having gotten over a bad headache, Krakauer talks to his wife (Linda). Linda: She is unhappy about Krakauer going on the expedition. Krakauer: Doesn't trust the skills of the other climbers, but they are starting to impress him. Sherpas: Lay out the paths to be taken and carry the gear. Hall: Makes money by charging climbers to go through laid out paths up the mountain.
Chapter 5 Summary and Characters
Hall took Tenzing down the mountain and radioed for the rest of the group to begin the climb to Base Camp. Harris, who is sick from the dirty conditions where they were staying, leads the group. Once at Base Camp, their group intermingles with all the other expeditions, and Hall catches up to them. Base Camp has many accommodations, including hot water showers, fax machines, and fresh produce. All the expedition leaders strategize as the groups have to stay there for 6 weeks climatizing. Krakauer sees Scott Fischer at Base Camp, whom he was initially supposed to go up the mountain with. Everyone on the climbing team began to feel the effects of the altitude: headaches, digestion problems, and bad appetite. Fischer: Founded Mountain Madness, friends with Rob Hall, and is sponsored by Starbucks. Hansen: On a climb sponsored by Sunrise Elementary School in Washington. Hall: Trusts in the acclimatization plan. Helen Wilton: Base Camp manager.
Chapter 4 Summary and Characters
Krakauer and his climbing group start this chapter walking to the base of Mount Everest, passing through the Namche Bazaar. After dinner that night, Krakauer explains the Sherpa community. Krakauer discusses how the commercialism of climbing has affected the community, both by providing jobs and corrupting their culture. Next, on their way to Everest, they pass through Tengboche (a nudist temple) before reaching Khumbu Glacier (the entrance to Everest). The next phase of the journey, climbing to base camp, is delayed when a sherpa falls 150ft while preparing the route. Mike Groom: Another paid guide. Stuart Hutchinson, John Taske, and Beck Weathers (very right-wing): Three doctors and fellow climbers. Sherpa people: Strong climbers among the Nepalese. Fiona McPherson: Harris's lady-friend. Tenzig: Sherpa who fell. Doug Hansen: American postal worker who failed to reach the summit before.
Chapter 12 Summary and Characters
Krakauer and his team are climbing up the Lhotse Face toward camp four with Frank and Lou leading and fifty climbers following. Krakauer climbs faster, not wanting to get caught in the large group, when he reaches the South Col, a flat area they will launch their summit attempt from. Eventually, Lopsang (carrying all of Pittman's broadcasting gear), the rest of Hall's team, and Fischer's team reach the plateau in the midst of a bad storm. That night the Montenegrins pass through their camp saying they were unable to reach the peak and a lone member of the South African team with hypothermia and disorientation appears having lost his group. As Hansen's condition deteriorates, Krakauer contemplates how the only thing holding their group together is circumstance and not loyalty or trust. After the storm subsides, Hall's, Fischer's, and the Taiwanese team leave for their summit attempt. Eventually, Frank turns back as he feels uneasy about the conditions, and Hansen almost does but decides against it. Krakauer, as he is a more experienced climber, has to keep waiting for his group to catch up and is passed by Fischer's team and the Taiwanese team. Further up the mountain, Lopsang starts vomiting, as he is exhausted from carrying Pittman and her gear up the climb. Krakauer: Is getting annoyed by having to wait for his team. Bruce Herrod: The lost member of the South African team. Lopsang: Carries Pittman without her asking which may be a fatal mistake.
Chapter 7 Summary and Characters
Krakauer begins by describing two famously unsuccessful climbs up Everest, before discussing how not everyone who pays to go up the mountain is an amateur. He mentions two brothers, Klev and Pete Schoening, who are famous climbers and a part of Fischer's climbing team. Krakauer then highlights the teams on the mountain that he is most worried about: the Taiwanese, who are notorious for being untrained, and the South Africans, who are led by a devious liar. Denman: Entered Tibet illegally and tried to climb Everest but was stopped by a storm. Maurice Wilson: Died climbing Everest for religious reasons. Pete Schoening: Famous Himalayan climber who invented belaying. Ian Woodall: Leader of the South African group, who lied about many aspects of their climb.
Chapter 14 Summary and Characters
Krakauer descends immediately after reaching the top and upon encountering a traffic jam at the Hillary Step he asks Harris to turn down his oxygen. Harris accidentally turns it up, Krakauer runs out of oxygen, and Harris mistakenly says the supplemental oxygen is empty. After seeing that the oxygen is really full, Krakauer takes a canister and begins descending again, leaving Harris behind. Upon descending for a while, Krakauer comes across Weathers who has stopped climbing because he can't see. Krakauer runs into trouble on his decent, as he gets caught in a blizzard and can't find the tracks they made on the way up in the snow. Almost back to the tents, Krakauer starts to hallucinate and Harris has caught up to him. The chapter ends with Krakauer making it to his tent. Harris: In reflection, Krakauer thinks he was suffering from hypoxia. When he catches Krakauer, his eye is frozen shut and he is in bad shape. Krakauer: At the end he thinks all his teammates have returned safely. In reflection, he says he regrets leaving Harris at the top of the mountain. Weathers: Has vision problems due to an old eye surgery.
Chapter 3 Summary and Characters
Krakauer starts this chapter with his flight to Kathmandu, Nepal, which takes the plane to the same height as the peak of Everest. In the city, Krakauer is greater by Andy Harris who takes him to meet Rob Hall. Hall's backstory is then described: he started at a climbing equipment company, took three attempts to reach the summit of Everest, and then founded his own climbing company. The chapter ends with Krakauer taking a helicopter to begin his climb up Everest. Andy Harris: Works for Rob Hall and has never climbed Everest. Rob Hall: Founded Adventure Consultants with Gary Ball (has since died). Krakauer: Is nervous about the climb to come as most people in his group are amateurs.
Chapter 11 Summary and Characters
On their way to the summit, the group sees Kropp coming back down as the turned back only a few hundred feet shy of the top. While at one of the camps, Fischer stops in to rest from exhaustion as he constantly has to ascend and descend to help struggling climbers. Tensions between Fischer and his assistant Boukreev are rising, as Boukreev isn't helping out. As Fischer and Hall's teams ascend the Lhotse Face, a rock falls and slams into Harris; who upon reaching camp three says he is alright. They begin to use supplemental oxygen and Krakauer has issues sleeping with it on. A member of the Taiwanese team then falls off the face of the Lhotse Face and dies while descending the mountain. The Taiwanese team now intends to climb the summit on the 10th, despite promising not to. Kropp: Plays it smart and gives up on the climb when he feels he can't make it. Lou and Frank: Members of Krakauer's team who are struggling. Chen Nu-Yan: Fell and died while on the climb. Gau: The leader of the Taiwanese team.
Chapter 20 Summary and Characters
The group descends from camp four straight through camp two, and Hutchinson almost forgets to secure his safety tether. The next mourning after reaching camp two, a helicopter airlifts Gau and then later Weathers to safety. Krakauer: Has to find a safe place for the helicopter to land. Breashears: Tells Krakauer that Weathers is still alive and helps him find the spot for the helicopter.
Chapter 21 Summary and Characters
The group finally descends off the mountain and reach Base Camp. Once there Krakauer breaks down and they a memorial service for those who have died. A helicopter arrives and takes Fox and Groom to medical care, and the rest of the group returns to Namche Bazaar. While waiting for their flight, Namba's husband, his brother, and many Japanese reporters hound the group for questions. Krakauer finds these questions hard to deal with, and once back in the US has a hard time giving Hansen's family his belongings. Eventually, Krakauer settles into his old life with his wife in Seattle and talks to Rob Hall's wife, but he is always haunted by what happened. Krakauer theorizes that a combination of arrogance, bad timing, hypoxia, and competition were the cause of the disaster. At the end of the chapter Krakauer describes what happened with the remaining teams: an Austrian and a Hungarian climber make it to the top (but the Austrian falls ill and dies), the IMAX team makes another attempt to summit (seeing Hall's and Fischer's bodies on the way), and the South African team completes their climb (but one member is lost). Fox and Groom: Suffer from severe frostbite. Jan Hall: Rob's wife, who comforts Krakauer. Krakauer: Is left with a changed view on mortality and a feeling of guilt. Hall and Fischer: Were competing to get as many clients to summit as possible. Bruce Herrod: The member of the South African team that was lost.
Chapter 10 Summary and Characters
The group makes another attempt at reaching camp three, but Hansen stays behind. While climbing the Lhoste Face, Krakauer describes his teammate Beck Weathers and how he wants to climb the tallest mountain on each continent. At camp three Krakauer feels off and hopes he isn't getting HACE like a member of Fischer's team did a few days ago. Back at base camp, the expeditions discuss their summiting plans for Everest, but the South African team is being difficult and threatens to make the climb on the same day as Hall and Fischer's teams. Woodall: Threatens to take the South African team up the mountain whenever he wants. Weathers: Wants to climb the tallest mountain on every continent. Hall: Says someone taking note of his every move adds pressure. Krakauer: Developed a cough at Lobuje that is really bothering him. Goran Kropp: Swedish climber.
Chapter 19 Summary and Characters
The morning after the tragic events, Krakauer wakes up to Hutchinson organizing a search party to find Weathers's and Namba's bodies. They shockingly find both of them alive but in really bad shape, and unable to move them, they return to camp. The next mourning, Beidleman slowly leads the rest of Fischer's team to camp three. The people at camp three, including the IMAX team, help by bringing oxygen and batteries to camp four. Suddenly, Beck Weathers, blind and barely alive, appears approaching camp four. Two Sherpas return carrying Gau and tell Boukreev that he can still save Fischer. Boukreev rushes up the mountain only to find that Fischer has died; he retrieves some mementos for his family. That night a bad storm hits camp four, and Hall's team is forced to leave. Krakauer and Hutchinson get Groom, Taske, Fischbeck, and Kasischke together to begin their descent. Surprisingly, Weathers has strived the night and Krakauer gets him some assistance to descend. Hutchinson: Takes over as leader, with all the last ones being dead. David Breashears: Director of the IMAX team, who attempts to help. Ang Dorje: Has already descended to camp three. Weathers: Survives two storms and climbs down the mountain by himself, despite being blind and nearly dead.
Chapter 16 Summary and Characters
The next morning, Hutchison wakes up Krakauer and tells him Harris never returned. Krakauer is confused because he thought he had helped lead him to camp the previous day and searches the area for him. Upon returning to camp, Hall radios the camp for help, as he is still stuck on the summit, and tells them the Fischer is missing. The IMAX team try to help by borrowing the South African's radio, but they refuse. Krakauer then stops the narration to discuss how after returning back home he interviewed everyone who survived the climb about what happened, Martin Adams in particular. Adams tells Krakauer how someone gave him directions to the tent, and realizing that their stories align, Krakauer understands he never saw Harris at all. The chapter ends with Krakauer contemplating what happened to Harris. Woodall: Won't let anyone borrow the South African's radio for a rescue mission. Adams: Initially refused to talk to Krakauer about the expedition but eventually gave in. Krakauer: Is torn up because he initially radioed Harris's family to tell them he was ok and then later had been saying he walked off the edge of the mountain, neither of which are true.
Chapter 17 Summary and Characters
This chapter accounts for Hall's and Fischer's ascent to the summit. Lopsang waits at the top for them, where they arrive with Gau. Fischer begins his decent down the mountain first, without using his supplemental oxygen, and Hall waits at the top for Hansen. Lopsang begins to descend with Hall and Hansen, but leaves them at the Hillary Step to catch up to Fischer. Hansen runs out of oxygen just before the South Summit and radios for help. A delusional Harris tells them all the oxygen is empty, as he told Krakauer, so Hall begins to descend without Hansen. After a while, Groom radios Hall and tells him that there are some full oxygen tanks. Harris try to convince Lopsang to help get the oxygen to Hall and Hansen, but he refuses and a very ill Harris try to do it himself. Lopsang catches Fischer, talks him out of jumping off the mountain, and gets him to start down the South Col. Fischer can't continue when Gau and two Sherpas appear. The Sherpas leave Gau, who is unconscious, and Fischer tells Lopsang to go get help with them. Lopsang makes it to camp and tells Boukreev to help. Meanwhile, Guy Cotter is at Base Camp radioing Hall and trying to get him to descend alone. Hall refuses but somehow gets two canisters of oxygen, before Hansen dies. Hall gets to have one last radio call with his wife before he dies, after a rescue crew got within 700 feet of saving him. Fischer: His mental state deteriorates and stops him from descending, eventually leading to his death. Harris and Hansen: Their bodies are never found. Guy Cotter: A close friend of Hall and Harris Gau: Is saved by two Sherpas. Ang Dorje: Attempts a rescue mission to save Hall.
Chapter 18 Summary and Characters
This chapter describes how at around the same time as Hansen reaches the summit three climbers from India radio that they also reached the summit. They are mistaken, and when Boukreev launches a search party, Boukreev, three Sherpas, and two Japanese climbers find one of the Indian climbers frostbitten but alive. The Japanese continue their climb and find the other two Indian climbers, but refuse to help as they want to reach the top. The Indian climbers: Came up the mountain from the Tibet side. The Japanese climbers: Won't let anything threaten their summit attempt.
Chapter 2 Summary and Characters
This chapter starts with an overview of Everest's history beginning with the discovery that it was the tallest mountain in the world. Krakauer then details the history of attempts to reach the summit, beginning with eight British groups. It was only after Nepal opened its borders, granting access to the south side of the mountain that the summit was first reached. Krakauer then describes how he idolized climbers who reached the peak when he was little and how the commercialism of climbing made him lose interest in Everest as he got older. Krakauer: Became interested in climbing at age 9 when he saw Hornbein and Unsoeld reach the peak. He is hired by Outside Magazine to do a story on Everest. Dick Bass: Owns the business Krakauer is researching. Sir Edmund Hillary: First to reach Everest Summit, Hillary Step is named after him.
Chapter 9 Summary and Characters
This is the last acclimatization trip for the group, going to camp three to spend a night there. Hansen and Krakauer both start the climb feeling terrible, when Hall tells everyone to turn back due to rampant frostbite and other maladies. There is a conflict between climbing expeditions when sherpas from the Taiwanese and South African teams won't help those from Fischer's and Hall's team set up ropes. Sherpas think Ngawang died because the goddess Sagarmatha is punishing them due to climbers having unmarried sex. Lopsang, Ngawang's nephew, descends the mountain when he dies and then returns. Hansen: Is suffering from a respiratory infection due to a recent surgery. Woodall: Gets really mad during the conflict. Lopsang: The best climber on Fischer's team.
