At first I was wondering how Into Thin Air would have been different if Krakauer took peoples advice to wait a few years after the accident and then write the book, but after reading it, I doubt it would have been much different. I enjoyed Krakauer’s writing on the history of Everest in the beginning of the book and all his tangents throughout the story. His opinions are strong, but give emphasis to the overall question in the book: What went wrong?

Of course every experienced climber is going to have judgements and concerns towards inexperienced clients who they just met and are going to be climbing the tallest mountain with. And though Krakauer was not a guide he certainly knew each one of them very well. It is clear that Krakauer did his research before being guided up Everest and completely normal to have the concerns he had when the character of each guide seemed off. I have always thought that guiding in itself is a very odd service. Krakauer writes how he felt emotionally, spiritually, and physically disconnected from the climbers around him. All the books we have read so far have been about teams that were either chosen by climbing committees or the team itself. There was no team in this expedition and no relationship or bond to know when something is off with your teammate. I can see how Krakauer’s position was even weirder being an experienced climber. People who are paying to be guided up Everest are not paying to feel part of a team, they are paying for themselves to get to the top of the mountain, take some selfies, I don’t really know.

Who really knows if Krakauer’s view of the individuals in Into Thin Air are one-hundred percent true. Under his condition I am sure they are not, but I think Krakauer being an experienced climber, rational, and having strong opinions says a lot of truth about guiding services in general on Everest. In chapter 12 on page 222 (of the illustrated version) Krakauer writes that the most rewarding aspects of mountaineering do not exist when you sign on as a client. He says passivity of the clients is even encouraged. But what saved Krakauer was his own instincts of knowing the he was going to run out of oxygen and needed to get down to camp.

I think guide services should be banned on Everest, and I think this book has strengthened my opinion even more. And it seems like banning guiding services was considered after the 1996 expedition. Everest is such a commodity not for just one country but for a number of countries, I find this pretty incredible. To pay $65,000 to be in the most unconformable condition of your life for such a risky short lived reward blows my mind, and this is the desire and root of the commodity.

To attempt to answer Krakauer’s main question in the book step by step while recreating the image of the storm must have been extremely difficult. It seems commercial guiding in general was his main focus as this was also his assignment for Outsider. He shows that the power of mountain wins over any experienced climber. I was given an illustrated copy of Into Thin Air years ago and have been meaning to read it. I am glad I waited until now to have read it but I wonder what I would think of the book before this class. I certainly agree with Krakauer’s larger overall opinions, but I wonder what everyone else thinks of his main question in the book.