Into Thin Air

In Thin Air ( Original title: Into Thin Air) is a factual report of the American author, journalist and mountaineer Jon Krakauer, which is about the tragic events on Mount Everest in May 1996. The book became a bestseller and sold millions of times served as a template for the film In Thin Air - Death on Everest as well as for the theater performance of Triada Kovalenko, Elisabeth Krefta, Melchior B. Tacet and Lennart Wilm.

Background

In March 1996, the American journalist and mountaineer Jon Krakauer was commissioned by the American magazine Outside, participate in a commercially guided expedition to the summit of Mount Everest, to write a report about the " commercialization of Everest ." Initially only planned as a multi-page report in Outside Magazine, led the unexpected drama of the events during the summit climb to the fact that Krakauer published his experiences as a book.

Krakauer joined the team of the New Zealand company Adventure Consultants, which was led by veteran New Zealand mountaineer Rob Hall.

At the time of the expedition is more commercially guided groups were on Mount Everest, including a team of U.S. company Mountain Madness under the guidance of experienced altitude mountaineer Scott Fischer.

Krakauer describes in the book of the preparations for the expedition, as well as the meticulous end of the summit ascent, during which several climbers after an unexpected change in the weather from exhaustion, freezing and crashes were killed. (→ Main article: accident on Mount Everest (1996))

Stations

The order of the chapters in the book is not chronological. The first chapter takes place on the summit of Everest. The actual sequence of the ascent was:

  • Phakding ( Khumbu region ) ( 2,800 ) March 31, 1996
  • Lobuje ( 4.938m ) April 8, 1996
  • Base Camp ( 5.330m ) April 12, 1996
  • One Camp ( 5.950m ) April 13, 1996
  • Two Camp ( 6.500m ) April 28, 1996
  • Lhotse Face ( 7.150m ) April 29, 1996
  • Camp Three ( 7.300m ) May 9, 1996
  • South-east ( 8,400 ) May 10, 1996
  • Summit ( 8,848 m ) May 10, 1996
  • South Col ( 7.900m ) May 11, 1996

The varying elevations stations were used for acclimatization.

Controversy

The publication of the book led to violent controversy with the living in Kazakhstan Russian mountaineer Anatoli Bukrejew and the Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Lopsang Jangbu. Both behavior during the expedition is heavily criticized Krakauer's book in part. Remarkably the following slugfest is the fact that he was held in public ( as letters to the editor to Outside Magazine ). Later Bukrejew looked even prompted to publish jointly with the American journalist G. Weston DeWalt own book called The Summit, which depicts the events from his perspective. As a result, Bukrejew and Cracow met and were able to largely settle the dispute. Shortly after the publication of his book Bukrejew died in an avalanche on Annapurna.

Mountaineering#Base Camp The Climb (book)
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