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

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-5

Reading Check

1. Who were Andy Harris and Anatoli Boukreev?

2. For whom was Mount Everest named?

3. Who was the first confirmed European to summit Everest?

4. Who is Fiona McPherson?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What mistake does Andy make with Jon’s oxygen tank during the descent from the summit?

2. What other significant event coincided with the first successful summit of Everest by a European?

3. Why does Jon feel more comfortable with Doug Hansen than the other climbers in his group?

4. What is notable about the village of Lobuje?

Paired Resource

“Everest Through the Eyes of a Sherpa: Climbers Need to Wake Up”

• This 2019 article from the BBC records a Sherpa’s perspective of guiding people up the highest peak on earth.
• This source pairs well with the themes of The Commercialization of Everest and The Immense Power of Nature and the Frailty of Man.
• How is The Commercialization of Everest making attempts to summit Everest even more risky?

Chapters 6-10

Reading Check

1. What terrifying geographical terrain do the climbers have to climb through to reach Camp One? 

2. What ailment or injury does Krakauer experience after reaching Camp Two?

3. What ailment or injury does Doug sustain during his attempt to reach Camp Three?

4. On what do the sherpas blame the storm?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What will be unique about the South African team’s accomplishment when they reach the top? 

2. What connections does Krakauer make between many of the climbers in his group and two previous climbers, Canadian Earl Denman and Englishman Maurice Wilson?

3. What do Canadian couple Marion Boyd and Graem Nelson do for Ang Dorje?

4. What does Jon notice about his body when they reach Camp Three?

Paired Resource

“Climbing in the Death Zone! SA Extreme Mountaineer Shares Her Insights After 57 Days in the Himalayas!” 

• This resource provides insight into what it is like to fail a summit attempt through the eyes of South African climber Remy Kloos.
• This resource pairs with the themes of Human Ambition and The Immense Power of Nature and the Frailty of Man.
• What experiences did both Krakauer and Kloos experience while attempting to summit Everest? What does Kloos mean when she says, “It is the summit that drives us, but it is the climb itself that makes us who we are”?

“Cape Town Woman First South African to Conquer Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse Within 24 Hours”

• This 2022 article from TimesLive provides an account of Remy Kloos’s summits of both Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse within a 24-hour period.
• This source pairs well with the theme of Human Ambition.
• Despite her failed attempt to summit, Kloos returned to try again. What drives her and other mountaineers to keep trying, even when they do not succeed?

Chapters 11-15

Reading Check

1. How do the climbers obtain drinking water?

2. At what time does the team leave Camp Four to make the summit?

3. What were the sherpas supposed to go ahead of the group and do before the other climbers arrive?

4. What is Andy’s assessment of the oxygen bottles at the South Summit? 

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Goran Kropp show good judgment, according to Rob?

2. What is the controversy regarding supplemental oxygen?

3. Why is Krakauer particularly concerned when he passes a team member “kneeling in the snow over a pile of vomit”?

4. What disaster did Yasuko nearly cause because of her impatience to summit the mountain?

Paired Resource

“Altitude Sickness”

• This article from the Cleveland Clinic explains the symptoms, causes, diagnosis, management, treatment, prevention, and prognosis of altitude sickness, including HACE and HAPE.
• This resource pairs with the theme The Immense Power of Nature and the Frailty of Man.
• How do the climbers try to prevent altitude sickness? What symptoms do they experience?

Chapters 16-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. What does the South African team refuse to supply to help in the rescue mission?

2. At what time does Doug approach the summit?

3. What does the Japanese expedition do when they find the North Indian climbers?

4. Who surprises others by making it back to camp?

5. How does Jon cope with the traumatic events of the expedition when he arrives back in Kathmandu?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does Krakauer believe has happened to Andy?

2. What happens to Rob Hall?

3. What difficult decision is Hutchinson forced to make when he finds Beck and Yasuko?

4. How does the public react to Sandy Pittman’s summit?

Paired Resource

“How Long It Takes to Get Frostbite”

• This 2-minute video explains what frostbite is and the various factors that determine how quickly frostbite can occur.
• This resource pairs with the theme The Immense Power of Nature and the Frailty of Man.
• Based on what you learned in the video, how long did it likely take for Beck Weathers to experience the first signs of frostbite?

Recommended Next Reads 

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

• This piece of literary nonfiction by Jon Krakauer tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a well-off college graduate who abandons his comfortable lifestyle to live off the land in the Alaskan wilderness.
• This text pairs well with the themes of Human Ambition and The Immense Power of Nature and the Frailty of Man.
• Shared topics include survival and risk-taking.
• Into the Wild on SuperSummary

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific West Trail by Cheryl Strayed

• This memoir captures the experience of a 22-year-old woman solo hiking over 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.
• This text pairs well with the themes of Human Ambition and The Immense Power of Nature and the Frailty of Man.
• Shared topics include survival, risk-taking, determination, and success.
• Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail SuperSummary