A few years ago I attempted to read one of Jon Krakauer's books and never finished it. Not sure right now why I never finished that book. HOWEVER, I finished this book easily. Probably one of the best adventure books I have read in awhile. To me reading books that talk about the trials and hardships, of living on the edge, help me to set my ambitions higher, remind me of my own mortality, and give myself a better chance at success by becoming the best at something that I can possibly be. Jon Krakauer has written for Outside magazine as well as a few other magazines for almost three decades. I have read his articles off and on over the years. Mainly Krakauer writes about things he loves doing which should be anyone's dream. His articles in have, for the most part, been well received, and helped to promote the outdoors to a society who has generally lost its rugged ways. We now live in a time when the next adventure is measured by its economical value, and many aspects of that "adventure" are overlooked or attempted to be glossed over. Krakauer explores many aspects such as these in this book and gives us a VIVID look into not only the perils of adventures but also the consequences.
Growing up in the west coast, Krakauer spent his childhood in the outdoors and held aspirations as a child to actually climb Everest. However by his mid twenties Everest had lost it's grandeur due to the 'fashionable' conquest craze that had begun. Fast forward to 1996 and Krakauer is given the chance by Outside magazine to travel to base camp, essentially the staging area for climbing any of the great mountains, and write an article about the commercialization of the mountain and the abilities of paid guides. Krakauer at this point was only to go to base camp, not to attempt to climb the mountain, and write his article there. I would love to make the hike to the Nepalese base camp, don't worry it is a typical trekking hike in the Himalayas, only 17,090 feet above sea level and thousands visit there every year. However to a person like Krakauer this would be like telling Michelangelo that he could prime the Sistine Chapel ceiling but could not paint on it. After a short time Krakauer convinces Outside magazine to postpone the assignment giving him time to prepare to actually make the climb to the summit. Krakauer knew what he was getting into. Not an experienced climber in the Himalayas, but he had the alpine experiences, knowledge, and dream of making it to the top. A key note to bring up is this statistic is this: for every 5 climbers to reach the summit one dies. This dream of Krakauer is of my opinion one of the grandest and deadliest in the world.
Did you catch that ratio? 5:1 are never good odds for anything that contain a death sentence for failure. Would you go into surgery if this was your odds of survival? Would you drive a car if these were your odds (though I am beginning to wonder about that odd applying where we currently live)? Going to the top of Mt. Everest is a feat few if any of us can comprehend. There have been movies and books that tell us about the trials and hardships, but few have ever been through them. Krakauer writes his book about what happened on the deadliest single day in the history of climbing this mountain, and it isn't just a story, he actually lived it. No guns, no virus, nothing beyond man vs. Nature. Very few of us know what it is like to go against Nature at its worst. And due to mainstream populations experiences such as these, the backlash from this book astounded me. In the epilogue of the book Krakauer gave one of the worst examples of this backlash from a lawyer in Florida that that blasted Krakauer and essentially blamed him for the death of a good friend of his. We like to think that we are always humane and go beyond the call of duty for everything in our life. This book shows many points humanity and how the extremes that were faced can change the face of humanity, and many of those faces aren't pretty and don't end in the sunny sky and happy day that we like to believe in. But basicly we really don't know what we would do in a situation like the one that happened that day. We buy into this idea that we place rules and if we abide by all the rules that we won't get hurt. Every last person who makes an attempt on anything that is dangerous and dreams big has to realize that there is an element of uncertainty can end in disaster. Too many people want to achieve big things but always want the assurance that they cannot fail.
This is a great book. We are surrounded by "reality tv" like "Real World" and "Survivor" but this book really is reality. It contains more reality than any "reality show" can ever conjure or display. Childhood dreams, Man vs Nature struggles, achieving things that few people can even hope to achieve, and tragedy that even those who live with it everyday were shocked and appalled by what happened on May 10, 1996. This book contained more enlightenment and memories than many that I have read over the years. First off the day of the event also was a day that was a great milestone for me. May 10, 1996 was the day that I graduated from high school. Second was one that to me is profound is that Krakauer admits that the events still haunt him, he is not sure that he did everything humanly possible for his friends. Everyone that survived will have to live with the fact that eleven of their comrades died, and many of them far more fit and knowledgeable than themselves. We rarely will find ourselves having to rationalize things this way. This book definitely will be added to my all time favorites. I will close with my favorite quote found in this book. It is actually a quote from another book but sums up everything about this book.
'But there are men for whom the unattainable has a special attraction. Usually they are not experts: their ambitions and fantasies are strong enough to brush aside the doubts which more cautious men might have. Three things they all have in common: faith in themselves, great determination, and endurance.' From Everst by Walt Unsworth
Growing up in the west coast, Krakauer spent his childhood in the outdoors and held aspirations as a child to actually climb Everest. However by his mid twenties Everest had lost it's grandeur due to the 'fashionable' conquest craze that had begun. Fast forward to 1996 and Krakauer is given the chance by Outside magazine to travel to base camp, essentially the staging area for climbing any of the great mountains, and write an article about the commercialization of the mountain and the abilities of paid guides. Krakauer at this point was only to go to base camp, not to attempt to climb the mountain, and write his article there. I would love to make the hike to the Nepalese base camp, don't worry it is a typical trekking hike in the Himalayas, only 17,090 feet above sea level and thousands visit there every year. However to a person like Krakauer this would be like telling Michelangelo that he could prime the Sistine Chapel ceiling but could not paint on it. After a short time Krakauer convinces Outside magazine to postpone the assignment giving him time to prepare to actually make the climb to the summit. Krakauer knew what he was getting into. Not an experienced climber in the Himalayas, but he had the alpine experiences, knowledge, and dream of making it to the top. A key note to bring up is this statistic is this: for every 5 climbers to reach the summit one dies. This dream of Krakauer is of my opinion one of the grandest and deadliest in the world.
Did you catch that ratio? 5:1 are never good odds for anything that contain a death sentence for failure. Would you go into surgery if this was your odds of survival? Would you drive a car if these were your odds (though I am beginning to wonder about that odd applying where we currently live)? Going to the top of Mt. Everest is a feat few if any of us can comprehend. There have been movies and books that tell us about the trials and hardships, but few have ever been through them. Krakauer writes his book about what happened on the deadliest single day in the history of climbing this mountain, and it isn't just a story, he actually lived it. No guns, no virus, nothing beyond man vs. Nature. Very few of us know what it is like to go against Nature at its worst. And due to mainstream populations experiences such as these, the backlash from this book astounded me. In the epilogue of the book Krakauer gave one of the worst examples of this backlash from a lawyer in Florida that that blasted Krakauer and essentially blamed him for the death of a good friend of his. We like to think that we are always humane and go beyond the call of duty for everything in our life. This book shows many points humanity and how the extremes that were faced can change the face of humanity, and many of those faces aren't pretty and don't end in the sunny sky and happy day that we like to believe in. But basicly we really don't know what we would do in a situation like the one that happened that day. We buy into this idea that we place rules and if we abide by all the rules that we won't get hurt. Every last person who makes an attempt on anything that is dangerous and dreams big has to realize that there is an element of uncertainty can end in disaster. Too many people want to achieve big things but always want the assurance that they cannot fail.
This is a great book. We are surrounded by "reality tv" like "Real World" and "Survivor" but this book really is reality. It contains more reality than any "reality show" can ever conjure or display. Childhood dreams, Man vs Nature struggles, achieving things that few people can even hope to achieve, and tragedy that even those who live with it everyday were shocked and appalled by what happened on May 10, 1996. This book contained more enlightenment and memories than many that I have read over the years. First off the day of the event also was a day that was a great milestone for me. May 10, 1996 was the day that I graduated from high school. Second was one that to me is profound is that Krakauer admits that the events still haunt him, he is not sure that he did everything humanly possible for his friends. Everyone that survived will have to live with the fact that eleven of their comrades died, and many of them far more fit and knowledgeable than themselves. We rarely will find ourselves having to rationalize things this way. This book definitely will be added to my all time favorites. I will close with my favorite quote found in this book. It is actually a quote from another book but sums up everything about this book.
'But there are men for whom the unattainable has a special attraction. Usually they are not experts: their ambitions and fantasies are strong enough to brush aside the doubts which more cautious men might have. Three things they all have in common: faith in themselves, great determination, and endurance.' From Everst by Walt Unsworth
That's it! I'm reading that book next. :)
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