Into Thin Air

There were many, many fine reasons not to go, but attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically irrational act—a triumph of desire over sensibility. Any person who would seriously consider it is almost by definition beyond the sway of reasoned argument

ist; he was a fantastic athlete and survival’s animal. You are economically sure; he knew hunger.… In my opinion you are like a man who, after reading a book about medicine, pretends to teach one of the world’s most famous and capable surgeons how to be a doctor.… When judging the decisions made by Anatoli in 1996 you must remember this: no clients on his team died

Moro became one of his closest friends. “I loved and love (like a friend, of course) Anatoli Boukreev so much,” Moro told me, “that after I met him I changed my life, my projects, my dreams. Probably only his mother and his girlfriend, Linda, loved him more.” Moro, as it happens, disagrees strongly with my portrayal of Boukreev in this book. “You didn’t understand who Anatoli really was,” Moro explained. “You are American; he was Russian. You were new to 8,000-meter peaks; he was the best of all time at these altitudes (nobody else had climbed 21 times to a summit over 8,000 meters). You are a normal alpin

To defend my honesty, I was forced to present some damaging material that I had previously withheld to avoid hurting Boukreev unnecessarily.

’s certainly helped sell copies of his book—and mine, no doubt

He and DeWalt responded by attacking my character, and presenting some very creative interpretations of the facts.

Messner declared that “No one should guide Everest without using bottled oxygen,” and that Anatoli was mistaken if he thought Messner endorsed Anatoli’s ac

Anatoli descended allegedly to be in position to provide assistance. But he never did find his clients, they were freezing to death across the Col.

Lacking bottled oxygen, his only reasonable choice was to get down fast on summit day

he told me face-to-face, “Messner says I did right thing on Everest