Also, I hope the books explained Jake Gyllenhaal’s character better. I never could figure him out in the film. He just seemed like some sort of zoned-out hippie who was asking to get killed. I suspect the reality was different.
They do, yes. Into Thin Air describes him and his approach to mountaineering well. Krakauer and Fischer knew each other casually, as they both lived in the Seattle area and as climbers they shared some of the same circle of people they both knew. Fischer was a very strong climber who had gotten lucky and survived some falls that would have seriously injured if not killed other climbers.
After describing the two men pretty well, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, Krakauer distills the differences in their personnas and mountaineering approaches down to the names of their companies: Hall’s was Adventure Consultants and Fischer’s was Mountain Madness. In his book, Krakauer reminds us that his own Everest attempt was not without risks (after what happened, yeah, DUH), and that he wanted to choose the company that gave him the best chance to not only summit, but to survive.
It’s ironic that the seemingly more careful and calculated Rob Hall lost not only his life, but also those of Yasuko Namba, Andy Harris, and Doug Hansen, while the expedition run by the easy-going-surfer-dude-what-me-worry? Scott Fischer not only did not lose any of his clients, but six of Fischer’s eight clients summitted and survived (Sandy Hill, Charlotte Fox, Tim Madsen, Klev Schoening, Lene Gammelgaard and Martin Adams). Of Hall’s eight clients, only three summitted, and of those three, only one, Krakauer, survived. Yasuko Namba and Doug Hansen are both dead. Of course, most of Fischer’s summitted clients have Boukreev to thank for their lives - Anatoli pulled them off of the South Col.
Fischer, a man of immense reserves of strength and stamina, died mainly because he spent those reserves on rescue operations during his expedition. When 10 May arrived, Fischer was spent and still he attempted the summit. If he was not the guide and expedition leader, on another day in the same condition he might have chosen differently, and lived.
Hall died because, against his better judgment, he nursed Hansen to the summit when he should have turned him around near the top, only some 40 meters from the summit. The previous year, Hall turned Hansen away from the summit when he was only 100-200 meters away. The presence of journalists on the mountain, the competition of Fischer’s company who, Krakauer said, was trying to eat Hall’s lunch, and other complex factors that I think Krakauer describes well in his book all contributed to Hall making his poor and fatal decision.
Into Thin Air is a quick read, and if you haven’t read it I highly recommend it - a gripping read that also describes “summit fever” well, the seemingly illogical grip that mountain climbing holds on some people. That movie scene was seemingly trite, but other than spending 5-10 more minutes on characters describing their summit fever, for the rest of us who do not climb (me included) it basically boils down to what George Mallory dismissingly told annoying repirters, “Because it is there.” So to me, the movie handled that topic well enough. Krakauer describes it well, not just for some of the other climbers, but for himself also.
Even though I’ve read the other books by most people who were on Everest in May 1996, I base most of my info on Into Thin Air since I’ve read it about 6 or 7 times, and it has been several years since I last read the others, even though I own them.
They do, yes. Into Thin Air describes him and his approach to mountaineering well. Krakauer and Fischer knew each other casually, as they both lived in the Seattle area and as climbers they shared some of the same circle of people they both knew. Fischer was a very strong climber who had gotten lucky and survived some falls that would have seriously injured if not killed other climbers.
After describing the two men pretty well, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, Krakauer distills the differences in their personnas and mountaineering approaches down to the names of their companies: Hall’s was Adventure Consultants and Fischer’s was Mountain Madness. In his book, Krakauer reminds us that his own Everest attempt was not without risks (after what happened, yeah, DUH), and that he wanted to choose the company that gave him the best chance to not only summit, but to survive.
It’s ironic that the seemingly more careful and calculated Rob Hall lost not only his life, but also those of Yasuko Namba, Andy Harris, and Doug Hansen, while the expedition run by the easy-going-surfer-dude-what-me-worry? Scott Fischer not only did not lose any of his clients, but six of Fischer’s eight clients summitted and survived (Sandy Hill, Charlotte Fox, Tim Madsen, Klev Schoening, Lene Gammelgaard and Martin Adams). Of Hall’s eight clients, only three summitted, and of those three, only one, Krakauer, survived. Yasuko Namba and Doug Hansen are both dead. Of course, most of Fischer’s summitted clients have Boukreev to thank for their lives - Anatoli pulled them off of the South Col.
Fischer, a man of immense reserves of strength and stamina, died mainly because he spent those reserves on rescue operations during his expedition. When 10 May arrived, Fischer was spent and still he attempted the summit. If he was not the guide and expedition leader, on another day in the same condition he might have chosen differently, and lived.
Hall died because, against his better judgment, he nursed Hansen to the summit when he should have turned him around near the top, only some 40 meters from the summit. The previous year, Hall turned Hansen away from the summit when he was only 100-200 meters away. The presence of journalists on the mountain, the competition of Fischer’s company who, Krakauer said, was trying to eat Hall’s lunch, and other complex factors that I think Krakauer describes well in his book all contributed to Hall making his poor and fatal decision.
Into Thin Air is a quick read, and if you haven’t read it I highly recommend it - a gripping read that also describes “summit fever” well, the seemingly illogical grip that mountain climbing holds on some people. That movie scene was seemingly trite, but other than spending 5-10 more minutes on characters describing their summit fever, for the rest of us who do not climb (me included) it basically boils down to what George Mallory dismissingly told annoying repirters, “Because it is there.” So to me, the movie handled that topic well enough. Krakauer describes it well, not just for some of the other climbers, but for himself also.
Even though I’ve read the other books by most people who were on Everest in May 1996, I base most of my info on Into Thin Air since I’ve read it about 6 or 7 times, and it has been several years since I last read the others, even though I own them.
I saw the movie. Overall it was decent, but I could tell it wasn’t drawn from Krakauer’s version - he’s barely in it at all. And making up that conversation for Krakauer isn’t right.
Overall there was a challenge to encapsulate the difficulties of the expedition into a movie. Things like everyone struggling with diarrhea from the poor sanitation along the trek. They gave some nods to the trek - they spent 6 weeks hiking up the mountain to acclimate their bodies. That was part of Rob Hall’s process to get his clients prepared, his approach to stage the hikes, not just from base camp, but from the airport at 9000 ft all the way to base camp. But I understand why that was glossed over.
I really didn’t get a lot of sense of Scott Fischer from the movie. It is shown that both took additional risks with the reporters along.
As far as Doug Hansen, it’s never been sufficiently explained to me why they have to turn back at 2 pm. I think the movie finally made the point - they’re in the death zone, and they have to limit their time. Because without the storm, we don’t know that Doug and Rob wouldn’t have made it down to camp safely. They just got caught further up the mountain when the storm rushed in. If they had honored the 2 pm turn around, they would have been lower, potentially with the others.
Boukreev gets credit for going out into the storm by himself and pulling in several people, but he also made poor decisions in (a) not using oxygen and (b) being back at camp 4 while clients were still out.
That’s part of it, but I think the bigger reason is because of bottled oxygen. Climbers cannot carry enough for the entire round-trip between Camp IV and the summit. Even with a spare bottle stashed for them at the South Summit, there’s barely enough oxygen for them to make the round trip.
As they say, any reasonably fit and skilled climber can usually get to the summit. It’s the getting back down part that is critical.
I applaud Universal/Working Title for breaking new ground with the new film ‘EVEREST’ and not sticking to the ‘Into Thin Air’ version of the 1996 Everest tragedy, which is maybe why this book is not in this film’s Credits, something that has not gone unnoticed by some professional reviewers.
Universal/the Director referred to Jon Krakauer as ‘a writer who just happened to be on the mountain at the time’. To learn more about what actually caused this seminal event you will need to read ‘A Day to Die For’ www.adaytodiefor.com and ‘After the Wind’. Well done Working Title and Baltasar Kormakur for daring to break the mold!
Thanks for this. I just bought Ratcliffe’s book and started reading it.
If anyone is interested in more info, here is a National Geographic documentary called The Dark Side of Everest (YouTube video) from 2003.
Very appropriate addition to this thread. It discusses in detail the issue of summit fever, the brutal edge of life that climbers are on, and the moral dilemma of other climbers who fall ill or just can’t go on.
I’m looking forward to the read. And Krakauer’s book does that too.
This version is 46 minutes. There is another one that is 1 hour 36 minutes
??
NOVA also did a documentary on the effects of high altitude climbing on cognition, on Everest, with Viesturs and Braashears called “Into the Death Zone”, one year after the 1996 tragedy.
You can watch in on YouTube
Ed Viesturs and David Breashears were on the IMAX expedition in May 1996. On 10 May when the storm hit up high on the mountain, they were at BC and coordinated rescue attempts for the Hall and Fischer expeditions. Broughton Coburn’s book, Everest: Mountain Without Mercy, while mostly about Breashears’ IMAX expedition, dedicated a portion to the disaster and provided a unique perspective because they had radio comm to both Hall’s and Fischer’s parties.
They discuss this in the NOVA special I linked above, while re-visiting the mountain a year later.
Cool, thanks phungi, I’ll watch that. I think I saw it years ago, but can’t remember right now. It might come back to me when I see it.
I just finished the book, A Day to Die For by Graham Ratcliffe. There are now some other books about the 1996 Everest tragedy, written after the late 1990s / early 2000s (I will have to renew my library card!).
Ratcliffe’s book was, hmm, interesting. About 1996 Everest, it was a little weak, an impotent attempt to clear his good friend, Anatoli Boukreev.
Anyone else read it? Or any other books covering 1996 Everest? Thoughts?
I haven’t read that book, but I don’t think Boukreev needed “clearing.”
Maybe defending is a better word. Krakauer certainly lambasted Boukreev, and that’s a risk one takes when writing so soon after a tragic event - going overboard with blame.
(I liked “The Kid Who Climbed Everest” by Bear Grylls.)
Here’s a film made by David Breashears discussing the 1996 trip and the storm, with interviews with several survivors.