Well, heavy reading in my mind anyway.
I read Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air when it first appeared in 1997. The story of the infamous May, 1996 Mt. Everest climbing disaster is one of the most riveting tales I've ever read. I was pleased to discover over the past two evenings that it has not lost any of the luster I remember from my first entranced encounter with the book.
Krakauer wrote in the book's introduction, "In March 1996, Outside magazine sent me to Nepal to participate in, and write about, a guided ascent of Mount Everest. I went as one of eight clients on an expedition led by a well-known guide from New Zealand named Rob Hall. On May 10 I arrived on top of the mountain, but the summit came at a terrible cost."
In May, 1996, a record-twelve people died on Everest, the worst stretch in history. Krakauer informs his readers that prior to the disaster he'd never seen a dead person before, or even been to a funeral.
Among the many sides to this book is a tale of innocence lost.
The book created a stir, to say the least, and became a bestseller. However, the author's painstaking reconstruction of what happened on the mountain that May is disputed in some quarters even today.
Krakauer and Russian guide Anatoli Boukreev, a friend, had a highly visible falling out over their differing interpretations of what happened on the mountain from May 10-13, during a sudden rogue storm that enveloped Everest with one-hundred mile an hour winds and whiteout conditions.
Boukreev's ghostwritten account of the disaster, The Climb, forced Krakauer into a protracted defense of his account. The two were still estranged by 1999, when the Russian suffered another climbing calamity and died on Annapurna.
If you are my age and interested in good adventure stories, you've no doubt read Into Thin Air, or you have wanted to but haven't gotten around to it yet.
If you are younger and haven't heard of this book much less read it, you owe yourself the favor.
TS
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