To what extent does Krakauer bear responsibility to the death and injure of his teammates? “When I woke up the next morning at about 5:00 A.M, and he hadn’t radioed, I realized we had lost him. Bruce Herrod is now presumed dead, the twelfth casualty of the season.” Krakauer will never leave behind every single moment that he experienced on his first expedition summiting the highest mountain in the world in 1996. Mount Everest has been infamous of taking away many lives during its climbing season every summer from April to June, and of course, there was no exception in Krakauer’s trip. The victorious glory after summiting Everest was swiftly swept away from him on his way back to Camp Four. Descending down from the South Col to his tent, Krakauer has no idea how he will never have a chance to see half of his teammates again, not even Rob Hall or Andy Harris, who he thought was near the Camp during the deathly storm.
Putting his thoughts and feelings in Into Thin Air, “a personal account of the Mt. Everest disaster”, Krakauer vividly recalls his memory about what happened during the entire trip, perhaps giving the audience a sense of responsibility for the death and injure of his team members in the very last chapters of his book and somewhat extends that responsibility towards Boukereev, a professional guide in another team. Jon Krakauer describes his trip descending down with some blurry memories, providing his readers with a sincere sense of guilt for the lost of Andy Harris. He confesses that he is “physically and emotionally wrecked” after spending an hour “scouring” for Harris, and all that he gets from the search team is conviction that Harris “was dead”.
The feeling of guilt doubles when Krakauer later on realizes that the person he meets on his way to the tents is not Andy Harris, but actually Martin Adams, a client on Scott Fisher’s team. Krakauer is totally stunned when receiving the news from Adams, for he has been telling people, including Harris’s family, that “Harris had walked off the edge of the South Col to his death”, while the truth is he had not seen Andy Harris at all that night. Confirming that the story about the reason why Harris does not come back is untrue makes Krakauer feel like he is an idiot in front of everyone. The faux pas might not be his fault, but it reminds Harris’s family once again that he is really gone, and there is no clear explanation on how did that happen. Krakauer feels responsible for how he is really positive about his theory on Harris’s death, and now it goes back to be a mystery. Jon Krakauer also recalls his descending trip down the South Col with guilt about not helping Beck Weathers getting down to Camp Four with him when he encounters Beck almost unconscious in the snow storm. Instead of helping him, Krakauer suggests that he is not a guide, and therefore Weathers should wait for Mike to rope him down. Mike Groom indeed helps to get Weathers down to Camp, but an evil snow storm unexpectedly attacks the entire area, preventing Mike, Namba and Weathers from getting to it, even though they are only 1,000 feet away from the station. After the expedition, Beck is “blind in his right eye and able to focus his left eye within a radius of only three or four feet.” What if Krakauer helped Weathers descend sooner, would his wounds and frostbite become so infected that it led to the unfortunate sequel?
Through his vivid details and imagery of the current situation when Hutchison finds the two bodies of Namba and Weathers buried in a thick layer of snow, Krakauer evokes an image of a poor old man “horribly shaken” digging up two frozen bodies, not believing in his eyes that another two Sherpas might lose their lives on this mountain again. Knowing that if Namba and Weathers could not be carried down back to Base Camp for medical assistance immediately, they “could be certainly die”, Hutchison rushes to mobilize them back to Camp. However, when another snow storm hits them at night and violently attacks Beck’s tent, they, he, once again leave Beck in danger without helping him. When the morning comes, feeling bad about what happens last night, Krakauer comes over “to check” if Beck is still alive, and thanks to the Almighty, he survives once again. Krakauer feels more responsible for Beck after this final incident, and as we see towards the end of the expedition, he tends to sympathize with Beck more. Although Jon Krakauer addresses about his responsibility towards the lost of Andy Harris and the serious infection of Beck Weathers during the snow storm, he does not forget to mention about the lack of ability to be a leader of Boukereev, which led to the death of many other members of both his team and the other one. Comparing to Rob Hall or Scott Fisher, Boukereev seems to be somewhat reckless. The fact that Boukereev is not “using supplemental oxygen” leads to “frostbite and hypothermia” for himself when waiting for his clients to summit. Also, Krakeuer also points out another flaw of Boukereev when he realizes that he does need oxygen to survive up in 29,000 feet: “neither he nor Beidleman had a radio” to communicate with the supply team. With that being said, Jon Krakauer fully addresses his responsibility to the deaths and injuries of his team members as well as extends it towards the inability of leadership in Boukereev, who is supposed to lead and protect his clients. To be honest, it is not completely a hundred percent true that it is his fault. Andy Harris would have been alive if he did not want to go out and help Rob Hall and Doug Hansen. Beck Weathers would have not been permanently injured if he had informed more people about his physical problem because entering the trip. Boukereev would have not let his clients in trouble if he had not want to show how heroic it is to climb Everest without any supplemental oxygen. Perhaps everything happens for a reason, and we cannot predict when it is going to happen and how to prevent it from happening.
Realizing that human do have the power to control another person’s life, I shiver and remember about how many times I have let that forgotten. I realize every action has a consequence that might or might not impact other people; however I still have to be responsible for that knowing that a simple mistake might affect the live of another human being. I do not want to risk it and then have to regret for the rest of my life, just like Krakauer does.