The truths he distorts and the truths he completely leaves out--it comes through in this book.

No wonder he can't sleep at night.

"The Climb" is much better. The story of Anatoly Boukreev--it's much better written, and Boukreev was awarded the American Alpine Club's highest honor, the David A. Sowles Memorial Award for his heroic actions on the Everest in 1996. Krakauer distinguished himself for his cowardice.

This book left me feeling sickened, sickened not as much by the deaths of the climbers at Everest, but by the thought that some of it would have been different if Krakauer had lifted a finger. Boukreev's book is much better.


Impossible to put down!   June 5, 2003
 18 out of 21 found this review helpful

Perhaps timing is everything, but don't tell that to Jon Krakauer, an outdoors writer and mountain climber who was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to climb Mount Everest; only to find himself in the middle of the most notable catastrophe to ever strike the mountain. With the 50th anniversary of the successful assent by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, there is renewed interest in Chomolungma (the Tibetan name for the mountain. Previous to the second half of the twentieth century, Everest was a forbidden monolith that crushed anyone who attempted to scale it's heights. But with it's invincibility shattered by Hillary and Norgay, Everest began to shed some of it's mystery, and bit by bit, the appearance (but just the appearance) of it's lethality. By the 90's, the primary requisite for a summit attempt was a bank account large enough to pay for an experienced guide. New problems like the litter of discarded oxygen canisters became a threat to the mountain, as the climbing ranks swelled with serious amateurs anxious to achieve various ego firsts like "first woman over 60," "first Lithuanian" to summit Everest, along with the highest mountains on each of the continents.

Outside magazine sent Krakauer on an expedition with Rob Hall, one of the most experienced of the new crop of guides, whose business it was to get climbers to the summit. Even with modern equipment and climbing techniques that's still a daunting task, not for the faint of heart or the expanded of waistline. However the professional mountaineers of Hillary's generation were being followed on Hall's expedition by a postal employee, a New York socialite and others. They were joined on the mountain by various teams, some so inexperienced as to be comical. Among the other teams was one led by Scott Fisher, another guide that was making a name for his ability to get people to the top and in a bit of braggadocio had even claimed that he had "found a golden staircase to the summit."

Krakauer outlines all of the minutia regarding preparation and execution of an Everest climb. You can almost find yourself wheezing as he describes what existence is like above the elevation that is known as the Death Zone. And he recounts in harrowing detail the storm that hit while Hall and Fisher's teams were near or below the summit, and the efforts of the others to rescue them. I had mixed feelings when I read of the final conversation between Rob Hall, as he sat helpless and dying on the mountain, and his pregnant wife back in New Zealand. Here is a man and woman exchanging their final words, both fully aware of his fate, and yet we mortals who will likely never be tested in this way are privy to his private thoughts and her quiet despair.

Moving from the role of dispassionate observer, into a deeper role of survivor, Krakauer anguishes over what he could have done differently, of the mistakes he believes he made and how he will ever reconcile his grief. Yes, he stood on the summit. Yes, he survived and returned home. But he has no satisfaction about conquering the mountain. And he questions why anyone else would even attempt it.


Gasping for fame, not truth.   May 27, 2004
 18 out of 36 found this review helpful

I've read it twice, and after reading Boukreev and Dickerson I
am now convinced that the truth or humanity was the furtherest
thing from Krakauer's mind. Absent the strength, oxygen, and
humanity of others climbers - he would be dead. The book was
about making money - nothing more. I've climbed for 40 years and
the author's lack of basic humanity chilled me deeper then any
spindrift.

Look at the group photo on the back of the book. Look closely at
Krakauer - look into his eyes. Read these three books and make
your own judgement.


Meh. Not so great.   December 18, 2004
 18 out of 25 found this review helpful

It wasn't horrible. It wasn't excellent. It was a decidedly biased book about a horrible tragedy, and if i hadn't read Boukreev I would have been convinced that Jon Krakauer is the be-all, end-all of the 1996 pre-monsoon Everest season. So I read this book, which was unfortunately my first introduction to mountaineering books. And I was all like, wow, Jon Krakauer must be great. Then I read Boukreev, and I discovered that Krakauer had missed some crucial points. Then I read Breashears, and Curran, and Scott, and Salkeld, and Viesturs. And you know what?

Krakauer's book can't hold a candle to any of them. He admits, quickly and on the run, that he was unprepared for the size and scale of Everest and enormously dependent on his guides to get up and down the mountain alive. Yet he can't manage to keep himself from telling you how much better a climber he is than almost any of the other clients on his team. It's a holier-than-thou attitude that, on second reading, completely turned me off the book. He ignores the fact that he didn't know Boukreev well before the climb, and still did not when he wrote his book, in favor of shifting blame. The simple fact is that the 1996 tragedy on Everest is one of many similar tragedies on that mountain and many others. I came out of reading Krakauer's book thinking that Boukreev must be some incompetent, selfish villain. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Neither man is entirely saint or sinner. This is glossed over in Krakauer's version, but it is entirely true. Boukreev came from a different culture, a different climbing tradition, and viewed climbing Everest as something that needed self-reliance and strength. Krakauer initially mentions holding this same opinion, yet by the time he makes his final return to Base Camp, he's apparently seen the light and casts Boukreev as the villain.

Another point, and not a small one: if Krakauer is such an objective journalist, why is there no interview with Boukreev in his book? It might seem that the rush to publish, and make a buck off the tragedy, was far too important to bother with anything as basic as getting the other side of the story complete. A sad omission, since Boukreev's 'boss', for lack of a better word, died on the climb and could no longer shed any light on what went wrong, what had gone right, and why he'd hired Boukreev at all. On language difficulties (Boukreev was from Kazakhstan), on his vision of how the climb should go, and on how what happened differed from his ideas. Unfortunateley, Boukreev has since died, and so Krakauer's anything-but-objective tale can never be remedied.

So why a "3"? Well, on first read I thought it was a great book. And many of his facts are well-presented. I like his style of writing, and the subject matter is really interesting. It's the opinions-stated-as-facts that are off-putting, and the holier-than-thou attitude. Krakauer was in a terrible situation and rather than examine it objectively, decided to go for the spin. Part of his brain, I think, is still on that mountain. Unfortunately, the air there is apparently too thin for objectivity.

Aside from the lives lost, the biggest tragedy of the pre-monsoon Everest season of 1996 is the failure of people to respect their limits. Unfortunately, Krakauer's book seems proof that he is still suffering that tragedy. What could have been a terrific book given a lot more objectivity has been made into a sensationalistic account of a tragedy.


Hubris,negligence,competition,heroes - a great tragic story   June 7, 2000
 17 out of 20 found this review helpful

It's hard to believe that this book is so interesting. John Krakauer tells a story about a disaster waiting to happen and then it does. The story involves a strange mix of characters... brillant, experienced guides, and inexperienced climbers focused on attaining the ultimate trophy, the summit of Mt. Everest.

If not for the tradegy, it would be comical... the mountain is overcrowded with climbers, highly paid guides, and local sherpas. Climbers ignore basic rules; they ignore the instructions of high paid guides, and too many pay the ultimate price for their mistakes... they died on the mountain. Their hubris, and negligence contributed to the deaths of their heroic guides.

This is a story with everyday villans, climbers who march by other dying climbers to pursue their own quest for Everest. And, it is the story of unexpected heroes, like the film crew for IMAX who gave away their oxogen to help weak stranded climbers. At the time, the IMAX crew thought that they had given away their chance to summit Mt. Everest.

I cried as the lead guide from New Zealand was dying just a few hundred feet from base camp. Although he was able to talk to his pregnant wife in NZ, he couldn't be rescued. I can't remember when I last cried real tears when reading a book.

This may not be a classic, but it is a great read!