They finally reach the summit in this chapter. The death zone and hillary step are both approached which are known to be quite dangerous. Hillary step is almost a vertical mountain which asks for the most difficult climbing of the expeditor's lives. The death zone has its name given because all climbers must proceed quickly before their essential supply of oxygen runs out. There are no ropes in place when they encounter the death zone which leads to an extremely difficult process to climb this dreaded zone. Krakauer is worried about oxygen supply and descends quickly, but he stops because of the traffic jam and allows other climbers to ascend. While this process, he asks Andy Harris to decrease the amount of oxygen he is receiving and he mistakenly increases the valve and Krakauer has wasted essential oxygen doing absolutely nothing. He tries to descend to the south summit where extra canisters of oxygen are. Andy Harris says they are empty and he gives Jon Krakauer the remainder of his oxygen tank. Harris is having symptoms of hypoxia which is rare in climbers, Krakauer proceeds to descend down the mountain without Harris which is something he said he will regret for the rest of his life. Krakauer continues descend with a climber with bad eyesight and eventually dives into his tent after a difficult journey and is confident in his climbing.
This chapter gets really intense as they finally reach their goal and Krakauer has many problems with his oxygen tank, weather, and the traffic. It is showing the effects on multiple people including the guides. It is foreshadowing the horrible weather that is about to come. I can't wait to read the next exhilarating part that takes place in this great book.
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