What is it about man (as a species) that he feels like he has to conquer everything???
Since Englishman George Mallory (upon asked why he wanted to climb Everest) said "because it's there," men and women have been taking their chances on the worlds highest mountain peak. I personally don't understand the need to summit something just because it exists but as you all know, I'm far from adventurous. If I even made it to base camp, I'd consider it an achievement and promptly turn around!
What floored me the most about reading 'Into Thin Air' (and it was written 25 years ago) was how commercialized conquering Everest has become. I use the word "conquer" loosely too because as evidenced by events in this book, the mountain and nature ALWAYS have the last word. Try as we might, we can't make either subservient to our whims. Maybe because I don't move in the orbit of elite mountaineers, I had no idea there were so many people willing to pay huge sums of money for the opportunity to climb Everest and that they would literally have to stand in a line while summiting and descending. Unconceivable to me there would be a traffic jam on top of that treacherous escarpment.
I understand why this book and tragedy, haunts people. From Krakauers description, it seemed like a compilation of many small errors that added up to a giant human catastrophe, not the least were the loss of renowned guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. I can understand the "what if's" or "if only's" would make for a lot of lost sleep. What if they'd stuck to Rob Hall's deadline of turning around by 1 or 2 pm (at the latest), what if all the ropes had been fixed prior to the attempt, what if there'd been more supplemental oxygen available, and so on and so on?? The latter seems a controversy in itself, because having it means more people who haven't acclimatized can climb. If there were no supplemental oxygen, so many more people would turn around before they found themselves in a perilous predicament. The biggest "what if" was the weather, a factor out of everyones control.
The environmental catastrophe around Everest saddened me also. Krakauer wrote that all the trees had been denuded (for firewood), there's trash all over the mountain (advertising banners, empty oxygen canisters, human feces, food trash, etc., etc.) So so sad that the incredible majesty of the place is defiled in such a manner.
I could have done without the last part of the book where the author defended his perspective (at length) of how the events unfolded on this climb. He wrote the story as he saw it & remembered it. Let it stand on that basis alone. No need to cast aspersions on other climbers versions. I grew up with three siblings. If you ask us about an event in our childhood, you get four different versions. Everyone remembers events differently. For that reason, it wasn't a full five stars for me.
Definitely a recommended read tho.
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