5 stars for Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.
Once again, I succumb to the lure of writing - about my thoughts and feelings - even though I keep telling myself to invest more time not on chasing after my scattered thoughts and rearranging them neatly, but on reading. The problem, and a good one at that, is when a story is so thoroughly researched, brilliantly narrated and skilfully constructed, especially by someone who has been through it personally and lives to tell, it is tough not to give in to the urge to pen all thoughts down and share.
Much as I try to avoid, this is so going to be another long one, a lengthy piece of writing which I find apt to split into two: (1) events leading to my ownership of the book, Into Thin Air and (2) a concise account of the story based on my understanding, together with my views and feelings after reading.
***
After watching the movie Everest - directed by Baltasar Kormákur - on the big screen in the first week of October 2015, I have a burning desire to read two of the adventure books written as a result of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, namely Into Thin Air by Kon Krakauer and The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt. More than that, I want to get hold of and own these two books. And by books, I mean the tangible, physical books. I know I simply have to.
A quick visit to the nearest Kinokuniya bookstore, unfortunately, proves to be fruitless - and disappointing - as I am promptly told by the bookstore assistant that the outlet does not carry the two titles I want; I will have to visit their main store which is in town to make my purchase. It is only two months later, in December, that I manage to take the time out to make a trip to town; to Kinokuniya's flagship store.
Not that I fly my own kite but as I go about reading Into Thin Air, I feel very pleased with myself to have the foresight to purchase the paperback instead of the digital version. Yes, I kind of expect the book to come with a map and a list of names to which I think I will need to refer to regularly as I read along. And true enough, as I indulge in this high altitude adventure of mountaineering within the safe confines of my home, I find myself constantly flipping to the front pages; first to the Mount Everest map - depicting the Southeast ridge route - located right before chapter one, and then, to the dramatis personae (list of characters under each of the expeditions present on Mount Everest in the spring of 1996, though not a complete one) wedged between an Introduction and the aforementioned map.
In all honesty, I cannot imagine myself poring over an e-map that in all likelihood is small and cannot be zoomed in to, let alone having to wait for my e-book reader to take its time refreshing as I 'turn' the pages back and forth while reading. So yes, I choose the manual task of flipping the pages of a real book over the convenience of a look! hands-free reading.
***
Turn back to a date almost two decades past.
10 May 1996
This is the day the author summits Mount Everest, the world's highest peak at 29,029 feet (8,848 meters) above sea level. By all accounts this is no mean feat and Jon Krakauer's success should be a cause for celebration.
Unfortunately, unexpected calamity strikes even as Krakauer is making his perilous descent from the summit. Somehow or other, he feels accountable for those who perish in the rogue storm. Taken verbatim from Jon Krakauer "...I knew better but went to Everest anyway. And in doing so I was a party to the death of good people..." For this reason and then some, his triumph in conquering the world's tallest mountain is heavily and painfully overshadowed by the weight of this disaster on his conscience. This book is, in fact, a means of catharsis for the author, for in writing his story, Krakauer hopes to drive Everest out of his mind and thus out of his life.
Into Thin Air is a candid first person account that tells of events leading to, the actual occurrence and aftermath of the 1996 Mount Everest catastrophe. It is a riveting and emotionally wrenching chronicle of the ill-fated expedition led by Rob Hall - a well-known and highly respected New Zealander guide - in which the author is a member of.
One can tell from the meticulously crafted script that Krakauer has done his research extensively and remarkably well. The gripping narrative is filled with vivid details, on both past and present climbers and mountaineers alike, some told matter-of-factly while others with intense interpersonal dynamics, regardless, all with marvellous intricacy in its own right.
Even as Krakauer recounts his harrowing experience on the majestic mountain, he is mindful of what he writes and shares. Wary of delivering a skewed account in any case, he proceeds to paint a well-rounded picture of the people privy to the 1996 Everest expedition, giving readers good valid reasons to understand and sympathise via his high-definition prose. It is indeed exceptional and unquestionably an eye-opener, to find in a work of non-fiction, such balanced assessment of the people and events.
Though there are still questions that are largely left unanswered towards the end of the book, in my opinion, the author has - to the best of his ability - gone above and beyond his call of duty to provide a much needed closure for the climbers who have not made it back from the climb alive.
As is always the case between book and film production, the Everest movie produced in 2015 which is based on real events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster contradicts – not all of it but enough to matter for some – with that of Krakauer’s account. Whatever the case may be, this Chinese proverb "上得山多终遇虎” (shang de shan duo zhong yu hu) comes to my mind as I reach the end of Krakauer's book. Translated, it literally means “If you go to the mountain often enough, you will ultimately encounter the tiger – meet your death”. When applied to high altitude mountaineering, if one risks it often enough, sooner or later, his/her luck will run out and that person will find himself/herself fighting a losing battle against the elemental forces.
For days leading up to my completion of reading the book and after, I suffer from fitful sleep. Retiring to bed early, I fall asleep only to wake repeatedly throughout the night, thinking about Mount Everest and its doomed climbers; the cadavers forsaken, frozen in time and mummified in the upper reaches of the mountain known as the Death Zone (above 26,000 feet / 8,000 meters).
Most of all, my mind keeps reeling back to the two lead guides, Rob Hall from Adventure Consultants and Scott Fischer from Mountain Madness. Judgement and luck aside, perhaps their fate were sealed right from the start, from the moment they made the decision to lead the guided expedition to Mount Everest in the spring of 1996. Both aspired to lead their team to the top of the world, only to end up in the cradle of that very mountain, forever. Right now, even as I am spilling my thoughts here across time and space, they are there high up in Mount Everest, their eternal resting place.
With a start, I realise the telling of the events in the book, so bone-chillingly real, has affected me in more ways than one. To think that I am but one passive reader, yet I am profoundly disturbed by that which I have read and digested. What I am trying to say is that, I cannot even begin to imagine what hellish time the author must have put up with in the ensuing years - with such a fine line between life and death - considering that of the six (Krakauer inclusive) in his team who summit on that fateful day, people who for the weeks past have eaten, talked, laughed, slept, vomitted and climbed with him, four have not made it home.
When all is said and done, Into Thin Air, an exceptionally well written work of non-fiction, is every bit as thought-provoking as it is real. Never once do I regret buying the book and reading it.
Publication date: Anchor; Reprint edition
Publication date: 19 Oct 1999
*** Quote ***
Climbing Mount Everest was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life. I wish I'd never gone. I suffered for years of PTSD*, and still suffer from what happened. I'm glad I wrote a book about it. But, you know, if I could go back and relive my life, I would never have climbed Everest.
~ Jon Krakauer, HuffPost Live, 13 August 2015
* PTSD: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
@}--->>--->>-----
On May 9th 1996, five expeditions launched an assault on the summit of Mount Everest. The conditions seemed perfect. Twenty-four hours later one climber had died and 23 other men and women were caught in a desperate struggle for their lives as they battled against a ferocious storm that threatened to tear them from the mountain. In all, eight climbers died that day in the worst tragedy Everest has ever seen.
Jon Krakauer, an accomplished climber, joined a commercial expedition run by guides for paying clients, many of whom had little or no climbing experience. In Into Thin Air he gives a thorough and chilling account of the ill-fated climb and reveals the complex web of decisions and circumstances that left a group of amateurs fighting for their lives in the thin air and sub-zero cold above 26,000 feet - a place climbers call 'The Death Zone'. Into Thin Air reveals the harsh realities of mountaineering and echoes with frantic calls of climbers lost high on the mountain and way beyond help.
*Blurb from Goodreads*
Add to:
Links to purchase:
No comments:
Post a Comment