Into Thin Air is a autobiographical novel by author and mountaineer Jon Krakauer detailing the events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster. On assignment by Outside Magazine Krakauer joined as a client of Adventure consultants Guided Expedition led by owner and guide Rob Hall in the spring of 1996. Krakauer retells the tragedy through his own perspective as well as the perspectives of the other clients, guides, and sherpas through interviews he conducted after the disaster took place.

By 1996, Everest had become a tourist hotspot. If the expensive price of joining a guided expedition could be met, most anyone with basic climbing experience could attempt the world’s tallest mountain. Many professional climbers frowned upon the commercialization of Everest including climbing legend Sir Edmund Hillary. Author Jon Krakauer joined the 1996 Everest Expedition led by Rob hall’s Adventure Consultants after the magazine he worked for, Outside, decided to do a piece on the commercialization of the mountain. A longtime dream of Krakauer's, the possibility of climbing Everest came as an eagerly welcomed opportunity.

The quote, “The slopes of Everest did not lack for dreamers in the spring of 1996; the credentials of many who’d come to climb the mountain were as thin as mine, or thinner”, fittingly describes many of the climbers on Everest during the storm of May 10-11. The lack of experience of many of the climbers as well as the changing methods used by guides in order to bring inexperienced climbers to the summit contributed to the tragedy that occurred. Jon Krakauer uses this quote as a historical explanation for what occurred on Everest as well as a sort of foreboding for the future to come.

Krakauer begins the book after he has reached the summit and notices clouds forming as his oxygen tank begins to run low. The second chapter jumps to the history of Everest as Krakauer relates previous historical attempts on the mountain including those that were successful and those that failed. Krakauer again jumps in the third chapter to his flight on the way to Nepal. Over the entire book Krakauer uses multiple time and perspective jumps to relate the entire story of what occurred on May 10-11. By using multiple perspectives Krakauer not only provided a more well-founded narrative but also helped to explain how the contributions of multiple factors influenced the outcome of the tragedy.

The Adventure consultants expedition left the highest camp, camp four, early May fourth with a turn around time of 1:00 or 2:00 pm, the time was never verified. A turn around time is used to establish the latest time for an expedition to turn around with enough time to safely return to camp. Jon Krakauer clearly states that prior to leaving for the summit the Adventure consultants owner and guide Rob Hall explained that no matter what, even if the team hadn’t reached the summit and the turnaround time comes they would have to turn back no matter what.

Krakauer reached the summit after 1:00 and due to his low oxygen level almost immediately began his descent. Krakauer was one of the first to reach the summit and as a result returned to camp four before the storm escalated to the worst of its extent. Assuming the rest of the team would be returning soon, and worn out from the climb, Krakauer proceeded to climb into his tent and go to sleep. The quote, "It would be many hours before I learned that everything had not turned out great––that nineteen men and women were stranded up on the mountain by the storm, caught in a desperate struggle for their lives” reflects Krakauer unawareness as well as the eventual trauma he would later face upon learning what had transpired during the night.

After the tragedy occurred and Krakauer recounted his own experience as well as those of other clients present at the time and noted that multiple crucial factors contributed to the incident. One important factor was, that although the latest turn around time mentioned was 2:00 pm guide Rob Hall and client Doug Hansen did not turn around until after 4:00 pm, after Hall helped Hansen to the summit. As speculated by Krakauer in Into Thin Air Hansen had previously attempted Everest with Hall’s company before and was forced to turn around 300 vertical feet below the summit after passing the turn around time which could have resulted in Hall allowing him to to pass the cutoff out of guilt from forcing him to turn around the first time and suffering some permanent injuries from the previous and current attempt on the mountain. Many other theories have been speculated as well and previous experiences greatly influenced what occurred that day. Krakauer mentions in his book that the Sherpa who live in the region and frequently act as assistants to the guides as well as climb with them, follow the buddhist faith and believe the mountain is a goddess and that certain practices anger her. Clients on the mountain participated in some of these practices and as a result contributed to the tragedies that occurred during the year of 1996. Through alterations in perspective Krakauer establishes a timeline of what happened during the storm and how each mistake accumulated into the eventual disaster that killed a total of 13 people.

The history of Everest played an important role in the eventual disaster that would later occur. As quoted in his book Krakauer recalls a conversation with Rob Hall, in which Halls explains that the incompetent people increasingly storming Everest would someday results in a disaster that he most likely would have to intervene in. Krakauer also relates that in a sad yet very ironic fashion it was in fact Hall’s expedition as well as Scott Fischer’s expedition (Fischer was another highly trained mountaineering guide and a close acquaintance of Hall’s) that would require assistance from other teams present on the mountain at that time.

Jon Krakauer painted a vivid picture of the horrors that he and the other climbers faced during the May 10-11 storm atop Mt. Everest in his book Into Thin Air. “Not even in sleep is there respite: imagery from the climb and its aftermath permeate my dreams.” This quote is evident in Krakauer’s writing; he describes a very detailed account of what transpired over the course of the expedition. Krakauer describes the scars left on the survivors after they made it off the mountain. Krakauer recounts how some were able to move forward after the terrible events that occurred while others were left severely traumatized and fell into depressed stupors. Krakauer was criticized by several family members of the deceased as well by the author DeWalt who related the story through the perspective of Anatoli Boukreev a guide on Scott Fischer’s team who received harsh criticism for his decisions on the Mountain.

Krakauer was left traumatized as well and throughout the book expresses remorse for not noticing when errors were made or when he could have interjected but didn’t. As noted by Krakauer towards the beginning of the book being a client on Everest was nothing like mountaineering on one’s own. He described how climbing elsewhere he was in charge of all the plans, he hauled his own equipment and made his own camp whereas on Everest he felt like he was inexperienced and as such held back his opinions even when he thought an error could have been made. Krakauer’s prior knowledge and experience influenced the way he interacted on Everest but also resulted in his lack of action in some cases causing him to feel distraught upon realizing his own errors in doing so.

Human beings will continue to challenge themselves even when it puts their lives in danger; at some point the inextinguishable need to conquer the world becomes so strong that all other feats become unimportant in perspective of their goal. Into Thin Air highlights the good and bad of human nature as well as how our interactions can greatly impact the outcome of situations in the long run.