Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

Krakauer is impressed with the enormous logistics involved in Rob’s management of their team of 26, including Sherpas and staff. This involves meticulous planning of menus, plans, weather, equipment, and medication. The team plans to make a number of ascents to higher camps—which Sherpas establish on the mountain—to acclimatize before trying to reach the summit from Camp Four in a month.

Rob’s group, including Krakauer, travel from Base Camp to Camp One, which requires the team to navigate the Khumbu Icefall: a dangerous and challenging area of enormous seracs or ice blocks. Avalanches in this area are common. Krakauer is terrified but also acknowledges the beauty of the icefall. Fixed lines— which climbers attach themself to with carabiners—and ladders are set up to assist the group. Krakauer is unable to use his instincts to steer him; he is terrified of every step.

Krakauer is shocked that Weathers, Hutchison, and Kasischke have brand new boots; mountaineering boots are initially extremely uncomfortable initially and need to be broken in to avoid painful blisters. Stuart realizes that his crampons, a traction device used to navigate icy and snowy landscapes, do not fit on his boots; Rob is able to adjust the crampons to allow them to fit over the boots.