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

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Why might some people be drawn to risky or potentially dangerous activities in nature? What kinds of activities might fall into this description?

Teaching Suggestion: If students are having difficulty thinking of potentially dangerous activities in nature, it might be helpful to discuss extreme sports, such as skydiving, scuba diving, mountain biking, or snowboarding.

• “The Most Dangerous Trips in the World” - This article from Conde Nast Traveler describes 10 of the most thrilling places to visit around the world.
• “Why Do We Love Extreme Sports?” - This article from Outside explores what motivates so-called “adrenaline junkies” to engage in activities that pose elevated risks.

2. In Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer chronicles his bid to reach the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. This adventure demanded ambition and sacrifice. What drives Human Ambition? What is the tradeoff between ambition and sacrifice? Can a person be too ambitious?

Teaching Suggestion: Students might benefit from engaging in a more structured debate about whether a person can be too ambitious. If you would like to facilitate a debate, split the class into two groups—one side supporting the claim that being too ambitious is not possible, and the other side supporting the claim that being too ambitious is possible. The resource below might be helpful in establishing rules and procedures for the debate.

• “Conducting a Debate”  - This document provides rules and procedures for conducting a successful, respectful debate.
• Jon Krakauer Interview Discussing Everest - This 11-minute video is an interview with Jon Krakauer and Tom Hornbein at the 50th anniversary of Hornbein’s book Everest: The West Ridge. Krakauer speaks about his experience on Everest. (Explicit language warning)

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

One of Krakauer’s lifelong dreams was to summit Mount Everest, but it is an incredibly physically demanding quest. How much physical pain would you be willing to endure to achieve a lifelong dream?

Teaching Suggestion: It might be helpful for students to first consider what one (or some) of their life goals are, then have them consider what sorts of demands and challenges achieving that goal might require. Students might find benefit from making two lists: what they would be willing to endure, and what they would not be willing to do.