Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

Use this activity to engage all types of learners while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Fictional Interview”

In this activity, students will create a fictionalized interview with one of the surviving members of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster.

Despite the loss of eight lives on May 10, 1996, several of the climbers made it out alive, though not without significant mental and physical injuries. Two such survivors were the New York socialite, Sandy Pittman, and the Dallas-based pathologist, Beck Weathers. Using what you can establish about their history and character from the text, write a fictional interview with one of these characters about their experiences on Mount Everest.  

• Ensure that your interview is factually accurate by referencing the text.
• The interview should cover why they chose to climb Everest, their perspective of how the climb was proceeding before the summit day, their experience during and after the storm, and finally, their experience after returning home.
• Compose your interview in the form of a script, with actions or movements noted in italics or parentheses.

Share your interview with your classmates when you have completed writing it. If working in pairs, act out your interview (one student is the “journalist” asking the questions, and one student is Sandy or Beck).