English 102
Rob Hall versus Scott Fischer In Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer takes the time to describe a little bit about the guides of both teams on Mount Everest during the climb. Krakauer talks about Rob Hall, who is the guide of Adventure Consultants, and also was the guide who led Krakauer to the top of the mountain. He also tells about Scott Fischer, who was the guide of Mountain Madness. Rob Hall is definitely the better guide to go on the climb with, because he is the more serious mountaineer, and he also was more careful about planning the climb up Mount Everest. Adventure Consultants is also a much more professional sounding name than Mountain Madness.
Hall was more of a serious climber when it came to going up the mountain. He was said to have “impressive organizational skills” (34), and once the groups were at base camp, “Nobody commanded more respect on the mountain than Hall” (65). This shows that even Krakauer thought Hall was very good at planning, and that he really knew how to be a leader when it came down to climbing. These are essential when it comes to going up the summit, because without proper planning and a good leader, there wouldn’t be anyone to tell clients what to do to keep them safe and get them to the summit, which is what everyone on the trip is paying for.
Fischer told a reporter “When accidents happen, I think it’s always human error. So that’s what I want to eliminate” (69). Yet, he still led his group by more of a “seat-of-the-pants, what-worry-me modus operandi” (70). Leading in this type of fashion could lead to several people taking unnecessary risks, and not being prepared when a dangerous situation came up. If something had arose that Fischer had not planned for like a certain part of the mountain being impassable, he would not have had a plan ready, he would have had to stop and make one up on the spot.
Rob Hall led many groups of people to the summit of Mount Everest before Scott Fischer. Hall had more experience on the mountain, also making him the better choice to go up with. If Fischer had more experience with taking groups up that mountain, the two leaders could have come to a tie with who was the better choice. Hall’s group also had an extra Sherpa, which really come in handy on climbs since they are better adapted to the thin air, and are there to help everyone in the group with whatever they may need.
Krakauer also shows that Fischer takes risks when climbing, such as when Fischer decided to climb Bridal Veil Falls, even though he was inexperienced. Also, Fischer fell 100 feet before hitting the ground and injuring his leg leaving a hole that was big enough to stick a pencil through. Fischer continued to climb for the next six months with this hole in his leg, ignoring anything bad that could have happened while he was climbing with his injury. While some may think this shows Fischer had perseverance, it actually shows that he cared more about reaching a goal more than personal safety. If something like this had happened to one of his clients on the climb, Fischer may have made them go back down the mountain alone, or convince them to keep going since the rest of the group wanted to go. Although Fischer still took the group to the top, Hall had taken 39 people. Before the storm, all of the groups had safe trips to the summit and back.
Krakauer does a great job of explaining just how the two guides differ, and what made Rob Hall the better choice when going to the summit of Mount Everest. He shows that Hall was more careful during the climb, such as how he went about making sure that everyone’s bodies had enough time to adjust the climate on the mountain by going up and down several times. Krakauer also shows that Hall has a plan from the beginning, rather than thinking of what to do whenever they came to a certain place, like Fischer liked to lead.