Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer ( born April 12, 1954 in Brookline, Massachusetts) is an American mountaineer and author.
Life
Jon Krakauer grew up in the U.S. state of Oregon and came across his father very early mountaineering. Strongly influenced he was by personal acquaintance with Willi Unsoeld, who was a friend of Krakauer's father.
" A few months before leaving for Nepal Unsoeld, I climbed with my father, Willi and Regon [ Unsoeld ] the summit of my first mountain - a little sensational 2750 meters high volcano in the Cascade Range [ ... ]. It is thus hardly surprising that the stories of the heroes Saga employ from 1963 on Everest my pre-pubescent imagination for so long. While my friends John Glenn, Sandy Koufax and Johnny Unitas chosen as their idols, were my role models Hornbein and Unsoeld. "
He works as a writer in the field of mountaineering and outdoor and has worked among others for the magazine " Outside". He became internationally known through his factual report " In Thin Air " ( Into Thin Air), which deals with the tragedy on Mount Everest in May 1996. It came two commercially guided expeditions during the summit climb in one of the frequent storms that may occur suddenly in the afternoon of good climbing days. The storm and the lack of rescue options led to the deaths of several members of the expedition due to lack of oxygen, exhaustion, frostbite and crashes.
From Krakauer magazine reports and his book Into Thin heights, a fierce controversy with the same event involved mountain guide Anatoli Bukrejew, which was the event in another book in many ways different from developed professionally. The book Krakauer was an extremely popular and sold bestseller.
Another bestseller was Krakauer's book Into the Wild, in which he describes the fate of the dropout Christopher McCandless. The film adaptation of the work under the title Into the Wild (2007) by Sean Penn reached an audience of millions worldwide.
In Murder on behalf of God (2003 ), he tells the story of the Mormons, their origin and their persecution, but also the crimes committed members of this religious community and how to deal with it the Mormons.
Krakow is an active mountaineer since his youth and has completed numerous partly extreme tours. He lived a long time in Seattle before he and his wife moved to Boulder in 1997.
Mountaineering achievements (excerpt)
- Mooses Tooth, 3150 m (Central Alaska Range ), 1975 new route on the south wall in the couloir to the summit ( " Ham and Eggs" ) with Tom Davies and Nate Zinsser.
- Devils Thumb, 2767 m ( Boundary Ranges, Alaska ), 1977 alone climb new route on the southeast face, before attempting the first ascent of the north face
- Eiger North Face in 1984 attempt with Mark Twight
- Cerro Torre, 3133 m (Patagonia ), 1992 second ascent of the Ferrari route on the west wall with rubber Dan Horn
- Mount Everest, 8848 m ( Himalayas ), 1996 ascent as a member of the injured Adventure Consultants expedition
- Mount Vinson, 4892 m ( Antarctica ), 2001 first ascent of the east face with Conrad Anker, Dave Hahn, Andrew Mclean, Dan Stone, Lisel Clark, John Armstrong and Rob Raker