Into Thin Air Vs.

Everest
By Jon Krakauer By Baltasar Kormákur
Essential Background Information

Genre: Action/Adventure

Summary:

On the morning of May 10, 1996, climbers from two commercial

expeditions start their final ascent toward the summit of Mount
Everest, the highest point on Earth. With little warning, a violent
storm strikes the mountain, engulfing the adventurers in one of
the fiercest blizzards ever encountered by man. Challenged by the
harshest conditions imaginable, the teams must endure blistering
winds and freezing temperatures in an epic battle to survive
against nearly impossible odds.
Creation
Author Jon Krakauer claimed
the movie Everest, based off
of his book Into Thin Air, was
“total bull”. Krakauer
thought the film took
“dramatic license” with the
story and deviated from
factual information.
 Into Thin Air, 1997
Author Jon Krakauer, 1997 Jon Krakauer in Everest (played by Michael Kelly)

The film portrays Jon Krakauer as a journalist just along for the
story, which is true, but Jon was also a mountaineer his whole life
with great success and always dreamed of climbing Everest as he
says in his book Into Thin Air. Awarded Best Book for Young Adults in 1998
Baltasar Kormákur, 2015
Director Baltasar Kormákur Jason Clarke as Rob Hall Josh Brolin as Beck Weathers

Jake Gyllenhaal as

Scott Fischer
Plot Structure
 Climax
● Rob wakes up the next

Fa
morning on the south summit
and contacts basecamp for
Rob and Krakauer

lli
●
help.
finally reach the peak, but

n
● Beck Weathers’ wife
Rob appoints an immediate
n

gA
calls the U.S. Embassy to
tio
turn-around time at about
request a rescue helicopter.
2:00 PM for the rest of his team.
Ac

ct
● Beck Weathers wakes
● At about 4:00 PM, Rob
g up and stumbles back down to

io
assists climber Doug Hansen
n
si
Camp Four. He and Krakauer
to the top briefly before a snow

n
Ri
are then taken back down to
storm blows through the valley.
basecamp in a helicopter.
● Scott and Beck get stranded
in the storm on the side of the mountain.
● On May 8, Rob’s team pushes up the
summit to reach Camp One.
● Scott Fischer’s team, along with Beck
Initial Incident Weathers, reach Camp Two, Three, and Four Resolution
in under an hour.
● Scott and Beck finally reach the top of ● Krakauer returns home to write a
Everest, but turn around immediately due to a storm. novel about his near-death experience on
Everest.
● Rob Hall and his climb team arrive in Nepal, India, to climb ● Beck Weathers returns home to his
Mount Everest on May 10. family, but needs to have both hands and his
● Author Jon Krakauer arrives and joins Rob and his team on nose amputated due to severe frostbite.
their trek up to Everest base camp. ● The bodies of the deceased climbers
● American climber Beck Weathers lands in Nepal to join Scott remain frozen at the top of Everest to serve
Fischer’s climb team up to base camp. as landmarks for future expeditionists.
Characters
and their Conflicts
Key Characters in the Book

Rob Hall Beck Weathers Scott Fischer Guy Cotter

Round, Static Round, Dynamic Round, Dynamic Flat, Static

Brave and high-spirited Excited to climb Everest at first, Cocky at first Mindful and

throughout the story but never the same afterwards, then scared for his life aware

Head Expedition Guide American Everest Survivor Expert Mountaineer Assistant Guide
Key Characters in the Movie
Rob Hall Beck Weathers Scott Fischer Guy Cotter
(played by (played by (played by (played by
Jason Clarke) Josh Brolin) Jake Gyllenhaal) Sam
Worthington)
Team leader Information-absorbing Know-it-all The lookout
American tourister professional
Tries to maintain control Not as experienced in climbing Likes to show off his
of his climb team climbing skills Provides caution

Wants to seem in charge Reliant on assistant guides Doesn’t seem to care to all climbers
 Rob loses sight of the other climber and gets stranded
on the south summit of Everest and Rob tries to
contact basecamp for help, but he is told that they
cannot go back up the mountain because of the storm.
Character Arc Rob’s body begins to freeze as he waits for help.
Guy Cotter patches
A terrible blizzard blows through the valley. Rob’s wife’s satellite
Rob Hall Rob Hall’s team is forced to descend from the mountain’s
summit immediately, but Rob decides
phone through to his
walkie-talkie so she
stay behind to try help another can talk to him from
climber reach the peak. home and motivate
him to keep moving.
Rob tries to slowly
make his way down
Rob Hall and his climb team begin their the mountain, but his
dangerous trek to the top of Everest. entire body begins to
Rob is highly determined to make freeze up. After
it all the way to the top, regardless of about an hour, he
whatever might happen finally tells his wife
along n the way. he loves her and says
goodbye, then takes
his last breath on the
side of the mountain.

Today, Rob Hall’s body remains on the summit of

Mount Everest, as requested by his wife, to serve as a
landmark for future climbers.
 Highlighting the Conflict(s)
During the climax of both the book and movie, Rob Hall begins to regret his foolishness of wanting to
stay behind to reach the top of Everest, knowing all-too-well that there is a storm on the way. His
daunting attitude towards the climb up begins to fade once the storm catches up to him, as he cannot
believe he made it this far only get stranded on the summit while a blizzard wipes out his trail to get
back down. When his wife calls him the next morning and encourages him to keep moving, he feels a
slight sense of strength and determination to try and crawl his way back down the mountain.
Unfortunately, his body can’t take anymore, causing him to slack and to not see the point of
continuing. Afterall, he was the one who decided it was a good idea in the first place.

“For those of you who dare face their

dreams, Everest offers something
beyond the power of words to describe”

- Rob Hall, Everest, 2015

 Setting

Time & Location

 ““Walter Mitty’s with Everest dreams need
to bear in mind that when things go wrong
up in the Death Zone--and sooner or later
they always do--the strongest guides in Image from Movie
the world may be powerless to save a
client's life; indeed, as the events of 1996
demonstrated, the strongest guides in the
world are sometimes powerless to save
even their own lives. Four of my
teammates died not so much because Rob
Hall's systems were faulty--indeed,
nobody's were better--but because on
Everest it is the nature of systems to break
down with a vengeance.”
(Krakauer 356).

Mount Everest, Himalayas of Nepal, India

May 10, 1996
Impact of the Setting
There are a couple very outstanding factors that come into play in
terms of how the story’s setting affects it’s plot. For example, had
Rob Hall and Scott Fischer decided not to travel to India to climb
Mount Everest on May 10, 1996, knowing full well ahead of time
that a snow storm would blow through on that exact date, the
entire conflict would have never occurred, thus probably saving
the lives of all the people who did in fact die on that day.

I also believe that if the storm had actually let up prior to Rob’s
death the very next morning, the team members down at basecamp
could have possibly been able to go back up the summit to rescue
Rob before it was too late.
 Tone and Mood
Tone: Intense, edge-of-your-seat, disheartening

Mood: Fearful, tense, anxious

The Impact of Sound
Everest uses a wide variety of sound effects and mixing to truly
bring the movie to life. Most of the sound effects heard throughout
the film include harsh winds, ice cracking, avalanches, thunder,
and so on. In this small clip from the movie which was deeply
edited to contain no audio effects or intense music in the
background, you will see just how much of an impact sound can
have on films and action sequences such as this, as it will sound
very empty, awkward, and somewhat, for lack of a better word,
humorous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Z3mvxYusk
The Impact of Filming and Special Effects
Literary Devices
Foreshadowing:

In the first chapter of Into Thin Air, Krakauer uses this context to give a foreshadowing of the tragedy that was to come: “Nobody suspected that by the
end of that long day, every minute would matter.” This foreshadowing entices the reader to find out what actually happened later in the book.

Symbolism:

The climbers ascend the more difficult faces of the mountain by following fixed ropes installed ahead of time by guides. The ropes exist for
practicality, to help the climbers ascend the mountain. The ropes also ensure that the group stays together and follows the exact same path up the
mountain. In addition, a client gains some peace of mind knowing that someone has climbed the path ahead of them and installed a hands-on map.
Krakauer notes with relief that on this climb, the clients are not all attached to the same rope. Typically they are, meaning that if one client slips,
either they all slip or one of the clients prevents a disaster by summoning the strength to hold up the rope. The rope symbolizes unity and loyalty,
exemplifying the idea that one's life is bound to another. Depending on who one is tied to, that concept could either be frightening or reassuring. Many
of Krakauer's discussions of teamwork and trust emerge when the clients must all ascend a single line, or when they are able to unhook from one
another.

Symbolism:

At the end of the film, Everest symbolizes the beauty, the unpredictability, the danger, and the awesome majesty of the natural world when Rob Hall is
last seen frozen on Mount Everest, where he remains to this very day.
Final Evaluation
Overall, I would give this book and movie a solid 5 out of 5 stars as my official rating. Both versions
of this true story include very similar depictions of what the real life individuals and survivors had
actually experienced on that fateful day, and I really enjoyed a majority of the film’s screenplay.
Though the book contained a bit more background information regarding the main characters’ lives
premature to the tragedy, I still think that Baltasar Kormákur came through and delivered one of the
best real-life disaster films of all time. I was also deeply impressed by all the visual effects that
were used for the different settings seen throughout the film, which were also very similar to how
Krakauer described it in the book. The only change that I would really like to see is for the film to
include a narrator (possibly Krakauer or one of the starring actors) who would talk every now and
then during the movie and describe the scenes as they were portrayed in the book. Both the book
and movie are typically intended for teenage or adult audiences, more so for anybody who is
interested in this particular story or other true stories involving the dangers and mortality of
nature itself.
 Works Cited
IMDB.com Editors. Everest (2015), the IMDB.com website, 2022, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2719848/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt. Accessed 28
May 2022.

Goodreads.com Editors. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, The Goodreads.com website, 2022,
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1898.Into_Thin_Air. Accessed 28 May 2022.

Pulver, Andrew. ‘Total bull’: Into Thin Air author’s opinion on Everest movie, TheGuardian.com website, 28 September 2015,
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/28/jon-krakauer-into-thin-air-opinion-everest-movie. Accessed 28 May 2022.

Failes, Ian. How the Everest VFX team scaled new heights, fxguide.com website, 27 September 2015,
https://www.fxguide.com/fxfeatured/how-the-everest-vfx-team-scaled-new-heights/. Accessed 28 May 2022.