Book: Into Thin Air

Title: Into Thin Air

Author: Jon Krakauer

Genre: Non-fiction, Mountaineering

Rating: 4/5

"I quickly came to understand that climbing Everest was primarily about enduring pain. And in subjecting ourselves to week after week of toil, tedium, and suffering, it struck me that most of us were probably seeking, above all else, something like a state of grace."

As mentioned in my previous post, my trek to Himalayas was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. So in order to find some solace, I turned to the next best thing to be on mountains – read a book about mountains or expeditions.

That led me to this wonderful and fulfilling book, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.

A personal account of his Mount Everest expedition and the horrific tragedy that took place in May 1996 where few of the climbers from his group and other groups died in the storm at the top.

The book written mainly to reveal all the events that happened on the mountain on that dreadful day of the tragedy, goes through all other aspects about how expeditions are planned and carried out, the different perspectives and intensions of the climbers coming to the mighty Everest, the life of Sherpas and their beliefs in general. And the author has also penned down about the ongoing problem i.e. the traffic jams being caused on the mountain.

The things which I liked the most was the disclosure of the mental psych of a climber when he is attempting such a big task of Everest summit. Of course, the accident and the details of the people dying during the storm was heart breaking to read. Jon, due to a sense of moral obligation, has gone through a lot of R & D and interviewing different stake holders from his group before writing this book which is apparent when one reads about all the minute details of the expedition and people associated.

At some point, few details of the climbers and events seemed unnecessary but one can excuse the author for that considering the circumstances he has gone through and also who had to relive it while writing this book.

A haunting story which also covers about all the insane risks associated with high altitude mountaineering.

The cancelled Himalayan expeditions of 2020 & 2021

I will have to go back to January of 2020 when my friend and I decided to go for a Himalayan trek. We planned to register for any of the IndiaHike treks, as I wanted to try a new trekking organization apart from the usual YHAI. After careful considerations of the trek duration and available leaves we booked Har-ki-dun Ruinsara Tal trek from Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The trek was supposed to begin during first week of May 2020. However, we all know, the pandemic showed its ugly face and many of the countries including India went on a lockdown and restrictions for many weeks, if not for months. Due to this, even our trek got cancelled. No doubt we were sad but somehow convinced ourselves that it was a good thing. The organizer provided us two options; either to get a refund deducting the processing fees or to collect a voucher, valid for 18 months, which could be used for any future treks. We opted for the latter option.

Fast forward one year. The whole world went through & still going through all the problems caused by the pandemic. Now, the virus was better understood and that was being controlled. Vaccines were in pipeline and there were signs of things getting under control. And then, we started discussing about the upcoming summer trek again in Feb 2021. I badly wanted to have a break and was looking forward for a wonderful trek. After checking the available treks, we booked Deoriatal Chandrashila trek starting from Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. Unfortunately, after few weeks of this, India was hit by the second wave of pandemic. The infection rate again climbed up and to control the situation, many state governments decided to declare curfews and few other restrictions. Undeterred, I still had my plans on. We were supposed to start on Apr 24th to Rishikesh and things were still uncertain w.r.t state-imposed curfews and other arrangements. But on 20th or so, it was informed by the organizers that they have decided to cancel the treks which were starting in next 2 weeks considering the high infection rates in state and city.

I was heartbroken. We all were, as it was our second trek that got cancelled in as many years after booking all the things including flight tickets. I was in the zone, to be in the mountains and having a peaceful time. But that didn’t happen. Again, we might end up saying that it’s all good for all considering the situation and the uncertainties surrounding it. But it was very disappointing.

Hoping we all come out of this pandemic strong and have our ‘normal’ back.