Into thin air a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster

• Main Author: Krakauer, Jon (Author)
• Other Authors: Rackliff, Randy (Illustrator)
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: London Pan MacMillan 2011
• Subjects: Mountaineering accidents > Everest, Mount (China and Nepal); Mountaineering expeditions > Everest, Mount (China and Nepal)
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.
• Item Description: Originally published: London : Macmillan, 1997
• Physical Description: xxii, 318 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates illustrations (chiefly color), portraits 20 cm
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references
• ISBN: 9781447200185; 1447200187

Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest, when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended in the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history. In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day, eight people were dead. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions. One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley