~ Into Thin Air ~

In the story "Into Thin Air" there were so many problems that you easily lost count. So many things happen, and very few of them were positive ; most ended in a tragedy. To start with,the intolerable weather conditions that these people endured during the time they were on their journey. Their goal was to summit Mount Everest, the worlds tallest mountain which rises to a point a little higher than 29,000 feet. The higher they travel up the mountain the more extreme the weather gets. The oxygen level is so poor that climbers make irrational decisions. 26,000 feet is considered the 'Death Zone'. Winds were so fierce that they sounded like 747 jet planes, also the winds were so harsh towards the climbers that it felt like they were being whipped. With extremely low temperatures and a windchill of minus a 100 degrees ice accumulated on their faces, and if they did not clean it of regularly it could become frostbite. Other problems were that because of the weather peoples health was greatly affected. There were so many injuries. Some people had frostbite so bad that they had to get amputations. Many were sleep deprived; some were even beyond help because they went in, and out of consciousness. On top of that, things got worse when people got lost because they were separated from their group. Many people were found dead ,and some bodies were never recovered; they more than likely had fallen into a abyss, or they could of been buried by heaps of snow. The progress of the trip was slow because of the bad weather conditions, and rough terrain. This voyage was longer than most people could endure. There were definitely not many camps to rest in. Many in this story made it to the summit but had lost their lives making their decent. One man named Hall died the night after he talked to his wife; they were expecting their first child together. Hall was a determined man, with a high tolerance to pain. It was too bad that he had died doing something he enjoyed so much.