Into Thin Air: Death on Everest

My name is Jon Krakauer.

I went on an expedition to write

about climbing Mount Everest.

On May 10, I arrived

on top of the mountain...

but the summit came

at a terrible cost.

In the spring of 1996, two of

the world's greatest climbers...

Scott Fischer and Rob Hall...

led this expedition

to the top of the world.

both men had summited Everest before...

but this time they went as competitors,

leading nonprofessional climbers...

who paid as much as $65,000 each

to be guided to the top.

There was a businesswoman from Japan,

Yasuko Namba.

A mailman from Seattle,

Doug Hansen.

Two ski instructors from Aspen...

Tim Madsen and Charlotte Fox.

A dentist from Colorado,

Dale Kruse.

A wealthy New York socialite,

Sandy Hill Pittman.

And a pathologist from Texas,

Beck Weathers.

A sudden storm rolled up

from the bottom of Mount Everest.

By the time it reached the top...

five climbers,

who I'd come to call friends...

were dead.

Scott Fischer and Rob Hall

went as business rivals...

each trying to get as many of

their clients to the top as possible...

and win the lion's share

of the lucrative Everest market.

I went as a journalist...

to write about the wisdom of guiding

rich novices up Everest...

once the province

of elite climbers.

Only later would I discover that I

went for the same reason as the others.

to stand on

the highest point on Earth.

Everest arouses

a powerful desire.

To those who don't feel it,

it cannot be explained.

I told myself I was here

to write a magazine article...

but already Everest

was exerting its pull on me...

already the fever was building.

I'm Rob Hall.

I want to make sure

you know who your guides are.

- This is Andy Harris.

- Hi.

- Mike Groom.

- Hi there.

Hey, Mike.

And our lead climbing Sherpa,

Ang Dorje.

I'd like to begin by introducing...

my fellow guides.

To my right, Neal Beidleman.

Hi, everybody.

If you need anything at all...

please feel free to ask him.

And him is the one and only

Anatoli Boukreev.

And my lead climbing Sherpa, Lopsang.

Hi.

Tomorrow, we begin a ten-day hike

into Base Camp Everest.

Now, base camp is 17,600 feet.

Then Camp One, 19,500 feet.

Already there's a third less oxygen

than at sea level.

So we'll lay in again

and let our bodies adjust.

Then we go up to...

Camp Two.

Camp Two is 21,600 feet.

This is when you have to start worrying

about cerebral and pulmonary edema.

Your brain can swell up...

like an overinflated balloon and your

lungs can fll up with so much liquid...

you literally drown.

Camp Three at 24,000 feet.

Now,your body is inhaling

four times faster than normal...

and still not getting

enough oxygen.

Your digestive tract

will want to quit...

leaving your body so hungry

for nutrients...

it will literally start

to eat itself.

And then, it's Camp Four.

Welcome to the Death Zone...

where bad things can happen

very, very quickly.

You're going to feel sluggish,

careless, cold.

You'll only spend a few hours

at Camp Four.

From this point onwards, nobody on

this team travels without oxygen.

- Is that clear?

- No arguments.

The push for the summit

starts at night.

We go up to the South Col...

the Balcony,

the south summit...

the Hillary Step, the only point

of technical climbing on the ascent...

and then...

the top of the world.

Now, the most important rule:

If you are not on the summit

by 2:
00 P.M., you turn around.

I have seen too many climbers

get killed...

after reaching the top

too late in the day.

They run out of gas and get nailed

by the conditions on the descent.

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