Minotaur029 wrote:Is this based on Into Thin Air? I seem to recall that he has a book with a similar title to ITA...it's probably Into The Wild.

In any case, Into Thin Air is a great book. It was called Into Thin Air wasn't it?

Dr. Venkman wrote:Into Thin Air is by the same dude, I believe. He's also got a great book called Under The Banner Of Heaven...some revealing stuff about mormonism in there. Into The Wild is a quick, entertaining read.

Josef K wrote:inappropriate criticsm of Anatoli Boukreev

Dr. Venkman wrote:some revealing stuff about mormonism in there.

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:

Josef K wrote:inappropriate criticsm of Anatoli Boukreev

Please explain.

Starting around midnight on May 10, Boukreev, Neil Beidleman, Scott Fischer and a team of Sherpas began guiding the six remaining clients to the summit, starting from Camp IV on the South Col (7,900 m/25,900 ft). Delays at the South Summit, caused by the failure of the climbing Sherpas to set the fixed ropes by the time the team reached that point, cost the team an hour on the ascent.

Climbing without supplementary oxygen, Boukreev reached the summit at 1:07 pm. He began his descent to Camp IV at 2:30 pm. By that time, Adams and Klev Schoening had summitted, but Beidleman and the remaining four clients had not yet arrived. Boukreev recorded that he reached Camp IV by 5:00 pm. The reasons for Boukreev's decision to descend ahead of his clients are disputed.[1] Boukreev maintained that he wanted to be ready to assist struggling clients farther down the slope, and to retrieve hot tea and extra oxygen if necessary.[2] Journalist Jon Krakauer, who climbed with the Adventure Consultants expedition, asserts that Boukreev's refusal to use supplementary oxygen and lack of warm clothing made it too dangerous for him to wait at the summit for the remaining clients.[3]

A blizzard struck at 4:00 pm, causing difficulties for the descending team members. The snow buried the fixed ropes and obliterated the trail that the team had broken on the ascent, resulting in several climbers getting lost on the South Col. Beidleman, Schoening, Fox, Madsen, Pittman, and Gammelgaard, along with Adventure Consultants' Mike Groom, Beck Weathers, and Yasuko Namba, wandered in the blizzard until midnight. When they could no longer walk, they huddled some 20 m from a dropoff of the Kangshung Face.

Near midnight, the blizzard cleared enough for the team to see Camp IV, some 200 m away. Beidleman, Groom, Schoening, and Gammelgaard set off to find help. Madsen and Fox remained with the group to shout for the rescuers. Weathers got separated from the group. Boukreev located the climbers and first brought Pittman to safety, followed by Fox and Madsen. He was not able to go back a third time for Namba.

Fischer, meanwhile, had not reached the summit until 3:45 pm. He was ill, possibly suffering from HACE, and exhausted from the ascent. Fischer was unable to descend below the South Summit (8350 m/ 27395 ft) in the storm. The following day, the climbing Sherpas located Fischer, but his condition had deteriorated so much that they were only able to give palliative care. Boukreev made a subsequent rescue attempt, but found Fischer's frozen body at around 7pm.

In January 1997, Boukreev gave his expedition logs, personal journals, letters and an oral history to Gary Weston DeWalt, who consolidated all the information into a book called The Climb. Boukreev's account of the 1996 expedition differs in many respects from those offered in Krakauer's Into Thin Air, Weathers' Left for Dead, Gammelgaard's Climbing High, and Dickinson's The Other Side of Everest. The Climb was also intended as a response to Krakauer's published criticisms of Boukreev's conduct as a guide.

On December 6, 1997, Todd Burleson, Pete Athans, and Boukreev were awarded the David A. Sowles Memorial Award by the American Alpine Club for their heroism and devotion in rescuing four lost climbers during this expedition. This is the Alpine Club's most prestigious award; other recipients have included Ed Viesturs and Ed Webster.