Jon Krakauer thought his book would kill the Everest industry. It did the opposite.
In short: After surviving the 1996 Everest disaster, Jon Krakauer wrote Into Thin Air to expose the deadly consequences of commercialized mountaineering. He was certain his account would destroy the industry, but instead, the book became a bestseller that inadvertently supercharged interest in climbing the world's highest peak, fueling decades of further tragedy.
In 1996, Jon Krakauer joined an Adventure Consultants expedition led by Rob Hall, documenting the ascent for Outside magazine. The expedition coincided with the dawn of Everest’s commercial era, where guides promised a 'yellow brick road' to the summit. On May 10, a sudden, violent storm trapped multiple climbing parties high on the mountain. By the end of that season, twelve climbers had died, including eight on the night of the storm alone. Krakauer, who summited and returned, felt profound survivor’s guilt, believing his presence and the subsequent media attention distorted the judgment of guides like Hall, who struggled to turn back clients despite dangerous conditions.
Krakauer intended his account to be a warning that would effectively end the nascent guiding industry. Instead, the book reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list and served as powerful, unintended advertising. As the commercialization of Everest accelerated, mass casualty events became a grim regularity. In 2014, a serac collapse killed 16 Sherpa porters, and in 2015, an earthquake-triggered avalanche at Base Camp claimed at least 19 lives. Despite these disasters, the mountain’s allure remained undiminished, with thousands of summiters continuing to flock to the peak in the decades that followed.
Reflecting on the disaster 30 years later, Krakauer notes that the tragedy was compounded by critical decisions made under pressure. He highlights how Rob Hall’s reluctance to turn back clients, such as Doug Hansen, created a fatal cascade of delays. Today, Krakauer remains haunted by the moral quandaries of the mountain, where inexperienced climbers often find themselves in situations where they cannot be helped. While he founded a memorial fund for his lost partners, he views the ongoing commercialization of Everest as a stark departure from the romantic, solitary sport he once admired, noting that the mountain now attracts many who simply do not belong there.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Jon Krakauer reflects on climbing Everest: "I wish I'd never gone"
- Also: Jon Krakauer | Writer, Mountaineering, 1996 Everest Disaster, Into the Wild, Christopher McCandless, Into Thin Air, Life, Career, & Facts | Britannica
- Also: Jon Krakauer
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