Sunday, March 6, 2011

Into Thin Air (pg. 1-28)

The book starts off by describing Jon Krakauer on Mount Everest, the top of the world. The relief that has overcome him after he has achieved his childhood goal. One part that I thought was interesting was when his partner ridded him of all his oxygen and he was still able to survive with the next tank being about 500 feet away from him. When he told his partner to crank his oxygen down, he ended up cranking it all the way up. So, he just spent his entire oxygen tank doing nothing. Also, eh talks about Hornbeing and Unsoeld, his childhood heroes, whose journey consisted of reaching Everest at 615 pm and had to stay there overnight. It is mentioned how Mount Everest received its name by an actual person and how the translation varies in each country. The ridiculous rates of permits for Nepal is what delayed Jon of climbing this great peak. He needed to write articles for the Outsiders over these rates. The prices jumped to 50000 then they jumped to 70000 with groups for 5 people, 10000 for additional members with 7 people being the maximum limit allowed. He also talks about how Dick Bass and Patrick Morrow climbed the Seven Summits which are the highest peaks on each continent of the world. It is an extremely great feat to accomplish and am completely amazed how they were able to overcome this.
I am enjoying this book so far. I am not usually a fan of adventure books, but the way Jon Krakauer wrote this book is interesting to me. Another reason I am interested in this book because I recall seeing a movie on this story in middle school and I was highly interested in that. The way people train and attempt to climb this mountain is a truly difficult journey.

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