Tone of Into Thin Air

The last part of the book had a dismal and honest tone. After everyone (who survived) got back down to Camp Four nobody wanted to talk about or believe what had just happened. Many people broke down within the first couple of hours but many didn't want to believe what happened was true so they hid their emotions and slept off the summit exhaustion. “Arriving at the bottom of the Khumbu Icefall on Monday Morning, May 13, I came down the final slope to find Ang Tshering, Guy Cotter and Caroline Mackenzie waiting for me at the edge of the glacier…Safe now, the crushing strain of the preceding days lifted from my shoulders, I cried for my lost companions, I cried because I was grateful to be alive, I cried because I felt terrible for having survived while others had died.”(279) As soon as Jon got down from the mountain he was able to release all is worries and just start balling. Jon felt it was necessary to tell the truth about the climb and what happened afterwards. “I’d always known that climbing mountains was a high risk pursuit. I accepted that danger was an essential component of the game-without it, climbing would be little different from a hundred other trifling diversions.”(282) “Truth be told, climbing Everest has always been an extraordinarily dangerous undertaking and doubtless always will be, whether the people involved are Himalayan neophytes being guided up the peak or world-class mountaineers climbing with their peers.” (287) Jon knows that climbing is an extremely dangerous business and he shows that throughout the entire book by being honest and really trying to tell the readers what really happened.

I really enjoyed Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer because of its factual and honest view. Jon was very honest throughout the entire book he wanted his readers to understand what it is like to really climb Everest. He did not make it seem like anyone can do it, or it is all fun and games. He told the truth and that is what made it so interesting for me.