Triumph of the mountains

Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer Anchorbooks

THERE are some books which could be found in almost every bookshop in a city, and Into Thin Air is one of them. You are likely to see it displayed on the shelves of almost all the bookshops in Kathmandu. On the subject of reviewing it, the reader may ask if a book needs to be a national bestseller or well-liked to get reviewed.

The answer is not inevitably 'yes', but some bestsellers should be analysed so that readers come to know why they become widely read, and especially one that was written some eighteen years ago. But the reason for reviewing Into Thin Air is absolutely different.

Firstly, I was forced to be curious about this omnipresent book about mountain climbing written some eighteen years ago and which is still being endorsed by Kathmandu booksellers. Secondly, in a country that's fast picking up mountaineering as a challenge – cum – passion, readers frantically needs to get introduced to adventure stories falling under the genre of mountaineering. Who knows what lessons our Musa Ibrahims and Wasfia Nazreens of tomorrow draw from it?

The book, written by Jon Krakauer (himself an accomplished climber and an outdoor writer), tells the heart-rending true story of a group of men and women embarking on a mission to climb the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest.

On an assignment from 'Outside' magazine, Krakauer himself was amongst the group of the affected climbers. A witness, climber and writer could have told the tale much better than Krakauer. But before we begin to climb the top of the world a key fact needs be known, and that is: during the entire 1996 season, 15 people (disputably more) died while climbing Mount Everest in a series of expeditions, till then the highest number of fatalities in a single year in the mountain's history. The disaster gained wide publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of climbing the Everest. The book, in particular, describes the events of 11 May when eight climbers died after several expeditions were caught in a blizzard high up on the mountain's summit.

To cut a long story short, the author explains the events leading up to his eventual decision to participate in an Everest expedition in May 1996. From there, the book chronologically builds up between proceedings that happen on the mountain and finally concludes with the unfolding calamity that happens during the final push to the summit and from there when they start to come down.

 It's the ascent to the Everest that most of the 21 chapters of the book cover through an awe-inspiring narrative that reads like a blending of day-to-day reporting, commentary and observation of facts – revealing the ordeals of climbing and also the mountain itself. So through chapters 4 to 14 you trek along with Krakauker and tragedy strikes with a forewarning beginning with chapter 15. Fascinatingly, every chapter begins by marking the altitude level, besides a vivid description of the changes in weather, trek proceedings, mountaineering methodologies and intermittent short profiles of fellow trekkers and Sherpas; and not to mention all the sufferings of a climber in the face of extreme barriers. And all this hardship is endured to reach the extreme top of the world.   

But a crucial point the book makes is that in terms of climbing a mountain, coming down alive is even harder than going up. The point is complemented by the cause of a bottleneck for reaching the summit, and a series of unanswered, at times obscure and collective misjudgements by the two climbing group leaders. Both the leaders were internationally acclaimed mountaineers at that time – Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. It's their story too.

Hall was leading his company, 'Adventure Consultants', and its clients, while Fischer was spearheading his company and clients under his banner of 'Mountain Madness'.  The disaster that took away the lives of the client climbers of these two companies show climbing into the 'thin air' (the air gets thinner with the heights) is dangerous business even if you are led by the masters.

Combined with delays in securing ropes, bottlenecks formed at the Hillary Step (a landmark before the final push at 8,760 m/28,740 ft) had delayed the ascent of many climbers, and therefore, many reached the peak of the Everest after the safe 2:00 pm turnaround time. But the sign of a rough, deadly storm was apparent but was not taken seriously or correctly anticipated. And thus begins the tragic part. Krakauer being in Hall's team was one of the earliest to reach the peak and also climb down earlier, and had he been delayed in reaching the summit after turnaround time, there would have been no Into Thin Air for sure.

However, there are some questions regarding the cause of this failure that can never be resolved since none of the expedition leaders survived. Upon reaching the Hillary step, the climbers again discovered that no fixed line for reaching the top was placed, and they were forced to stop and wait, while the guides installed the ropes. Meanwhile, some 33 climbers were attempting the summit on the same day, and Hall and Fischer had asked their climbers to stay within 150 m of each other and that instruction was not followed. Jams formed up along the single fixed line marking from the Hillary Step.

Many relatives of the victims disagreed and even got disappointed with Krakauer's book but then again a writer's job is to write , and Krakauer has written about a piece of mountaineering reality that even beats the best of nail-biting fiction. The ambitious dream for reaching the top of the world, no matter how dangerous it may appear, always tempted some to follow in the footsteps of Hillary and Tenzing. So as long the Everest exists the risks of more deaths will remain.

Two experiences of this reviewer while reading and after having the book read needs be told and those are --- if you can concurrently imagine the scene of some of the events of the expedition you are reading about, then you're sure to get a spine-chilling feel. The second is you can't stop pondering over the facts as the book offers an incomplete and tragic end. Perhaps the unfinished but fascinatingly told tragic end makes the book so widely read. Apart from a few mountaineering jargons the book is a smooth read.

Shahriar Feroze is with The Daily Star