Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

Written by Jon Krakauer

Narrated by Jon Krakauer

When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top.  No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning, he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were desperately struggling for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated.

Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the bestseller Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world.  A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall's team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996.

Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.

Into the Wild is available on audio, read by actor Campbell Scott.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 4, 2000
• ISBN: 9780553754117

Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer is a mountaineer and the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, (which was on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year and was made into a film starring Emile Hirsch and Kristen Stewart) Into Thin Air, Iceland, Under the Banner of Heaven and Where Men Win Glory. He is also the editor of the Modern Library Exploration series. He has received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. According to the award citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer."

Reviews for Into Thin Air

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When journalist Jon Krakauer got a magazine assignment to cover the 1996 Mount Everest climbing season from base camp, he convinced the magazine to cover his expenses to join one of the climbing groups. Little did he know that it would be such a deadly season, and he would be lucky to survive the experience. His personal account of the disaster was published months afterward. He mentions in the introduction that several friends had advised him to wait two or three years before writing this book to gain the perspective that comes from time. When I read that, I thought that I would have been one of those urging him to wait, and I had that in mind as I read the book. By the time I finished the postscript, I realized that I was wrong. If Krakauer had waited much longer to write this book, he wouldn’t have been able to interview some of the survivors of the Everest expedition because they died in other accidents not long afterward.

What surprised me most about the book is just how many people were on and around the mountain. I’ve always thought of Mount Everest as an isolated place that few people visit. In Krakauer’s description, it sounds like it’s close to being overcrowded, and that’s a safety issue.

[amcheri-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting. I'm not the type to be driven to do anything remotely close to climbing a mountain but I get the concept. Hearing the story of what happened in May of 1996 from someone who was there made the experience for me. I've read Krakauer before and like his style. Plenty of background info but not enough to make me doze off while waiting for the meat of the story.

[delta351 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reread during fall 2024. Truly a gut wrenching and heart breaking story.
Unbelievable misery they went through to complete the climb of Everest. Krakauer leaves no stone unturned in analyzing this event. Speaks to motives and actions that caused this catastrophy

[kalliegrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a fast, thrilling, pulse-racing read. I think I must have seen the IMAX film year ago that was being done at the same time as this book's events, because a lot of this sounded familiar. So much tragedy, so much to go wrong. I think this book could have done with more perspectives from the survivors, but it is well told and devastating. I am not an adrenaline junky, and you will never find me risking serious discomfort for bragging rights. I have tent camped in freezing rain in Yellowstone enough as a child to be happy with a heated bedroom the rest of my days. But there is something about the drive, pushing beyond your limits, and achieving what the corpses along your path couldn't that is still breathtaking and inspiring. I am going to look for more adventure disaster books now.

[xaverie_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An extraordinary memoir of Jon Krakauer's ascent up Everest and the 1996 Everest disaster.

[pferdina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An intense story of the author's adventure to the top of Mount Everest with a group of other climbers in 1996. Bad weather and bad luck resulted in a large number of deaths that day. I can only imagine how terrible that must have been. The author writes that he received lots of hate mail after his story was first published in Outdoor magazine, but he felt an obligation to write the full story and try to correct the errors he made in the magazine piece, due to incomplete and erroneous memory. I am amazed that he could read the book for this audio recording; it would have been easier to get someone else to do that.

[kslade-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Readable account of what it takes to climb Everest and about the recent tragedies there with some hikers.

[castlelass · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Personal account of the 1996 Everest disaster

I had heard about this event at the time and had wondered what had happened to lead to the deaths of some of the most well-respected mountain climbers. It is told in first person by the author, a reporter and experienced climber. The book is fast paced, well-written and engrossing. I found it hard to put down. It gives insight into the reasons for climbing the highest peak and insights into the associated difficulties, hazards and risks.

[MiguelC · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best thing about this book is that, despite not being interested in mountaineering at all, it has managed to keep me hooked from the first page. Stephen King recommends it for every aspiring writer. Now I understand why. It's a masterclass in creative writing! (Translated from Spanish)

[iudita_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book should have been titled 100 Horrible Ways to Die. I read this with the hope of understanding why someone would want to climb Everest, but I'm afraid it's not in my psyche to understand. So many wasted lives.

[perkykeri · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was a well written story and great if this is your type of genre.

[akblanchard_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the spring of 1996, freelance journalist Jon Krakauer is chosen to join a expedition of paying guests who are climbing up to the summit of Mt. Everest. As an experienced mountaineer, he knows that the trek up the world's tallest mountain will be difficult and dangerous, but even he doesn't seem prepared for the huge physical and mental toll it will take on him and his fellow climbers. Then, an unexpected blizzard on the mountain makes everything even worse. Krakauer is left with the haunting feeling that he could have done more to save his fellow climbers.

Although I was a little bogged down by the mountaineering jargon and large cast of characters, I found reading this sad, instructive, engrossing account of a doomed expedition very helpful. I have a whole new appreciation for the warmth and oxygen available at lower altitudes.

[drfuriosa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I remember when the Everest disaster of 1996 occurred--an excerpt of Krakauer's book appeared in Reader's Digest, which I *loved* reading as a kid. The story itself is both fascinating and tragic. While I have never had any desire to climb any mountains or attempt Everest, the sheer scope of the story itself captivated me. The IMAX film released in 1998 fueled my fervor even more, but it's taken years for me to read the entire book itself. Krakauer is a fantastic writer; he can transport you to the Base Camp, the Summit, or the South Col with the power of his writing. There are plenty of lessons we can take away from this disaster, but the postscripts and the after-story itself provide an even different lesson: how and why we interpret events, people, and decisions the way we do, and how our documentation can affect the public eye. A must-read, and one I will likely return to for teaching and personal engagement.

[Profrtello · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not everything that has evolved in terms of technology and cybercommunication is so flattering. Carr writes about what happens as a result of excessive trust in the automation process that involves relying entirely on technological advancements. A person can become a puppet if they do not regain rational control over their own creation. A revealing book that questions modernity based on the vertigo of advancements in communication technologies. (Translated from Spanish)

[lovinglit · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I stumbled upon the tail-end of the 2015 film 'Everest' the other night on TV...and was immediately hooked. Because the expedition leader was a New Zealander, we heard all about this on the news here when it happened, and it was as horrifying then as it was reading about it. I have long held the impression that people who seek this level of risk are selfish, particularly if they have children, and, although a little of that remains after reading this book, I feel like I understand a little better how and why people would do this. But- I still cannot fathom a situation in which someone could step over a dying person with no thought of trying to offer some some sort of comfort. The callousness that high altitude, extreme exhaustion and the will to summit seems to engender in climbers leaves me cold.

That said, the account of Krakauer is beautifully, and, I thought, quite sensitively written. The dilemmas, the confusion, the utter awfulness and waste of life that the expedition faced was interlaced with history, and some philosophy as well. Certainly a cracker of a read, but one that leaves you wondering at the waste of life and the spoiling of a majestic mountain.

[forsanolim · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An engrossing look at a mountaineering accident on top of Mount Everest in May 1996 involving a few climbing expeditions, including the one in which Krakauer was taking part as a guest. Krakauer documents, in a very readable fashion, the events that led to multiple deaths on the mountain, with a few small decisions spiraling, in the face of sudden storms and wind, into a major catastrophe.

I really enjoy the outdoors, but I do think that it can be hard to reconcile a desire to be in the outdoors and to experience these incredible places with the recognition that so much can go wrong, that there are sometimes enormous inherent risks in exploring and experiencing these places. I think that Krakauer does a really good job of balancing detailing the enormous tragedy while, at the same time, honoring the majesty of Everest and making it clear why people could want to climb it. (I think I can say pretty definitively, though, that this book has only compounded a sense that I don't really think mountaineering is for me.)

[vokram-944968 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Title: Into Thin Air

Author: Jon Krakauer

Publication Date: Oct 1997

Genre: Non-fic

Score: 5/5

Into Thin Air is the true story of the disastrous 1996 Mount Everest climbing season. Jon Krakauer was there doing a piece for Outsider magazine. He was so traumatized that he wrote a book chronicling the events to gain some clarity about the events that led up to the disaster.

This is the first nonfiction book review I’ve composed and it’s difficult to assign a score. This book is competently written, tells the story, and seems credible. What else is there to judge a nonfiction event novel? There’s no message to take away or lesson to be learned. There’s just the quality of the writing and credibility of the author. In that case, I have to give this a 5/5. I liked the book and learned about the events chronicled. This is a good book.

[Ironxavi22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A book that deals with the tragedy that occurred on Everest due to the exploitation of such an emblematic place. I found it somewhat heavy and I liked the movie called Everest, which tells this story, much more. (Translated from Spanish)

[hvlibraryjones · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book started my obsession with Everest, its dangers and triumphs. It's a terrible tragedy but an amazing survival story as well. Krakauer introduces us to each climber and makes us care.

[AleGy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The movie is based on this book.

It is a completely moving, sad, and descriptive book about the tough experience that was lived in 1996. (Translated from Spanish)

[Ironxavi22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read it after watching the movie, and I found it somewhat heavy. (Translated from Spanish)

[codonnelly · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As another climbing season on Mount Everest passes, this year’s season deadlier than most, Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air acts as both a witness and a warning to past and future mountaineers. Published in 1997, a year after the events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, Krakauer’s intimate account of the deadly expedition topped the charts. It remains popular to this day, as it was recently adapted into a movie, and it continues to be studied in classrooms across the nation.

“…attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically irrational act—a triumph of desire over sensibility. Any person who would seriously consider it is almost by definition beyond the sway of reasoned argument.”

Krakauer begins the book on a literal high point: when he reaches the summit of Everest on May 10th, 1996. This short chapter doesn’t provide much information beyond foreshadowing the disaster to come, but it is highly effective at piquing interest. A few arguably dull, albeit informative, chapters follow, providing background information about Mount Everest, including how it was discovered and named, as well as brief descriptions of some of the most famous expeditions led by explorers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, as well as Edmund Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay. The book picks up steam the moment Krakauer starts his account on March 29th, 1996.

Krakauer is an excellent writer. He wrote most of his account throughout the ordeal, only later going back to add his research and provide a more intimate version of events. This approach pays off wonderfully, as his descriptions of the cold beauty surrounding him are so palpable that it’s difficult not to feel like you’re taking the journey with him. The addition of quotations about Everest and a variety of other pertinent topics (the allure of danger, the perils of exploration, etc.) convey a sense of universality to the book, as people have always been attracted to the unknown, despite the potential risks.

“…on Everest it is the nature of systems to break down with a vengeance.”

The most fascinating parts of the book involve the tour guides and clients, their behavior, and the mistakes they made. The team Krakauer joined, led by expert climber and tour guide Rob Hall, was one of many that began the ascent during the 1996 season. Surprisingly, most clients of the guided tours are not professional climbers. If they could pay the hefty permit fee, which at the time was roughly $65,000 per person, they could join an expedition. When a motley group of inexperienced adventurers band together to climb the highest peak in the world, it is not surprising when things start to go awry. But the sheer amount of absurdity displayed is still astonishing and tragic.

Perhaps the biggest drawback of the book is that it’s told solely from Krakauer’s point of view. It’s difficult to stay objective when writing about one’s own experience. He does attempt to remedy this predicament by interviewing and adding direct quotes from other team members throughout his account, as well as a chapter devoted to how other survivors were affected by the disaster, but these efforts still fall somewhat short. Interestingly, a controversy followed the publication of his book, when another climber, Anatoli Boukreev, published The Climb, his own version of events which differed significantly from Krakauer’s account. Boukreev and Krakauer disputed for quite some time until Boukreev’s untimely death. Later editions of Into Thin Air include a captivating postscript with Krakauer’s thoughts on the debacle.

Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air is one of the most interesting personal accounts of a recent disaster in history. Krakauer’s thoroughness and attempt to provide an accurate representation of what happened during that fateful spring of 1996 is highly commendable. Man has always found the conquest of nature appealing. When George Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest and replied, “Because it is there,” maybe he would have given it a second thought it he knew the dangers that awaited him. And yet again, maybe not.

[jonfaith · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Don't Be Fucking Stupid should be the title. Into Thin Air shares this distinction with Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man. The hubris depicted here has other effects than the envirnonmental ones described: thinning the herd, officer; Malthus would agree.

It isn't bad journalism.

[diylibrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Seriously considering going back to page 1 and reading the whole book again.

[justagirlwithabook · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was devastating and heart-breaking but also beautiful and awe-inspiring. I was torn in so many different directions, and I just couldn't put the thing down. I generally shy away from non-fiction but read it in two days. It was a great true tale of desperation, loss, and humanity's struggle to deal with the pains of the past. I would recommend it to anyone who thirsts for adventure, appreciates others' struggles in the face of reality, or generally enjoys reading about daring risks from the safety and warmth of their own homes.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A chilling (see what I did there) account of the Mt. Everest disaster told from the journalist who experienced it first hand. Everest is one of the most deadly and sought after climbing achievements, no amount of peril can stop people from climbing the highest peak in the world. Jon Krakauer, an experienced climber and journalist is lucky enough to get sent on an expedition led by the best team to go up the mountain. Nothing could have prepared him for the icy hell that waited for him up in the mountain. Over the course of a few months he had become close with his climbing companions and they were all so excited to make this dangerous journey little did they know that there time was to be cut short and not all of them would make it down the mountain. Thrilling, captivating, enlightening, and ALL AROUND engrossing, I could not put this book down. Even though Jon fills the reader in on who dies right in the first chapter, leading up to those moments and learning about the history of Everest, mountain climbing, and the skill needed to complete such a a feat was mesmerizing. It was so interesting and rest assured I will NEVER participate in mountain climbing after this. A must read!!!

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jon Krakauer was given an assignment by Outside Magazine to join a climbing expedition ultimately going to the top of Mount Everest. Being an avid mountaineer he thrilled at the chance to join a professional team to reach the highest summit in the world. What he didn't anticipate was being witness to one of the worst Everest disasters in the mountain's history.
As Karakuer takes us to higher elevations he not only gives the reader a play by play of the events unfolding at each camp, he also details the physical and psychological effects wreaking havoc on the climbers, adventurer and Sherpa alike. It's a grueling quest and Krakauer never lets you forget the danger.
It has been said that the mountaineering community is unique unto themselves. Never before was this more apparent than when Kraukauer described climbers so hellbent on reaching the top that they would push on past half dead individuals lying in the snow, slowly freezing to death. Or step casually over the legs of a half buried dead man...
Despite the dangers of climbing such high elevations, the challenge continues to draw thousands to Everest. It is an industry unto itself, making millions for guides, the sports corporations looking to sponsor them, and the Sherpas looking to lead the way.

[karenvg3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this version of this disastrous expedition to Mt Everest. I read this due to the movie coming out and am very excited to see how the movie deals with what happened. I would recommend this book.

[dimplesrao · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you are an adventurer, this is your bible. What happened, what could have happened, what happens and what could be happening between 'ifs' and 'buts' and 'unknowns' of high altitude climbing. On a disaster of 1996 on Everest, now a cult read on deaths, distress and cruelty of nature's fury in one single night. The author was one of the survivors though his personal account came enveloped in crude events of destiny. It's a deep and a disturbing account but it's about what makes EVEREST what it became to human resilience over time. Names of real people as characters in the book are now mountaineering buzzwords, part of stories inevitably talked about all the time. As intended, the story was first published as 'Outside' magazine article later as a book.

[voracious_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In 1996, Jon Krakauer was sponsored by Outside Magazine to accompany a climbing expedition to the top of Mount Everest. This particular expedition ended in disaster after an unexpected storm left eight dead and several others with severe frostbite and permanent injuries. Krakauer's account of the expedition includes historic information about extreme climbing at high altitudes and explains how high altitude exposure can lead to delirium, confusion, life-threatening medical conditions, and a high risk of death. This autobiographical account is supplemented with interviews by the survivors, to try to bring an honest and multi-faceted perspective on the motivations of the climbers and guides.

This is a suspenseful real-life thriller about the tragic climb and I greatly enjoyed learning more about high-altitude climbing. Since I had little awareness about the event, it was suspenseful to anticipate who might survive and how it would end. The author has since been criticized for assuming the motivations of those who died on the expedition and the survivors who refused to be interviewed. While the author acknowledged that he made some errors in presenting the information, which was hurtful to the families involved, I appreciated his candor and willingness to admit to his mistakes. I felt his account was a humble and genuine attempt to make sense of his traumatic experience and bring peace to himself and others impacted by the tragedy. Highly recommended.