I chose this article because it had many quotes from him personally about ho he felt about deciding to go on the trip. He repeats in different ways how he wished that he had never gone. He says it was "the biggest mistake of my life", "I wish I had never gone". He even gets a question from an 11 year old asking what advice he has. That kid wants to climb the highest peaks in the world on each continent. But Jon tells him that Mt. Everest is unlike any mountain and that he should think twice. That advice come from the experience after the expedition that caused him awful physical and mental pain. The things that he has seen are described in extreme detail throughout the book. The way he expresses the advice he advisees to the kid is very eye-opening and that he feels so strongly about it that he curses. It exactly reads that he said "I'm the last person should tell people not to do crazy s**t, but think twice about it," He knows that going on the expedition was a crazy decision and even though he did decide to do it and can tell people that it was the worst decision ever. He not trying to scare them into not going or try to force their hand, he's simply just warning them of what could happen and telling them what did happen to him. I really sad to hear how much he regrets it and that it cause him to have PTSD. A question I have is, how badly did it affect his life after he got back including the PTSD. Did he go back to work or devote his life to telling his story? Does he use it to educate other people climbing or try to discourage more climbers. Was his book written o get across either of those points?
I'm reading Into Thin Air as well, and I think that he rather devoted his life, at least the next few years, to telling the Everest story. However, it took Krakauer a long time to fully dissemble the facts of the deaths on Everest. He states many times throughout the book that many of the hypotheses they made were pure guesswork. There is one paragraph where he relates to Adams, interviewing Adams two years after the disaster. Only then did he discover that Andy Harris had actually tried to rescue Hall and died in the process. I doubt Krakauer will ever forget his experiences on Everest.
ReplyDeleteI'm also reading this book, and I can see exactly why he would call climbing Everest a huge mistake. It must have taken some time to recover from the loss of brain cells and then relive his memories as he wrote his memoir. Not only did Krakauer have serious brain damage, he had PTSD as the article said so. I doubt Krakauer could remember every detail of his journey, so he also had to ask others to fill them in. Just imagine having a chunk of your memory taken out but you knew it was a bad experience; it must be horrible!
ReplyDeleteHey for the 3rd time. Again, I'm also reading into thin air and I remember talking to my mom about how I think it's pointless to try and climb Mount Everest. It seems like a waste of money and yeah I get that it's a thrilling adventure but if you want a rush climb some other non threatening mountain. He knew the danger and yes it was a childhood dream but he should have let that dream fade as he got older and realized the gravity of the situation. I also told my mom that I was afraid that you would want to climb Mount Everest. Like that's something you'd do if you had the chance and I was like homie she's not gonna make it. I hope by reading this book it enlightened you and you won't want to climb Mt. Everest. If you do end up doing it you have my blessing but if you die I told you so :P
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