Jon Krakauer, Author Of ‘Into Thin Air,’ Says Climbing Everest ‘Biggest Mistake I’ve Ever Made’
Jon Krakauer, author of the bestselling account of the 1996 disaster on Mount Everest, Into Thin Air, says that he deeply regrets ever embarking on climbing the mountain.
Krakauer, 61, told Huffington Post Thursday that he greatly suffered after his harrowing adventure on the world’s tallest mountain.
“Climbing Mount Everest was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life. I wish I’d never gone. I suffered for years of PTSD, and still suffer from what happened. I’m glad I wrote a book about it. But, you know, if I could go back and relive my life, I would never have climbed Everest.”
Jon Krakauer: Climbing Everest was the Biggest Mistake I’ve Ever Made http://t.co/Sp6A4dfAOU pic.twitter.com/45njxm9dM1
— Rock and Ice (@rockandice) August 16, 2015
Jon Krakauer shared his opinion while speaking with HuffPost Live about the documentary Meru, which documents three climbers and their journey to be the first to summit at India’s Meru Peak.
During the conversation with Huffpost Live, an 11-year-old mountain climber asked for tips for climbing Mount Everest himself, which prompted Krakauer to offer the young climber some advice on deciding whether to embark on such a quest.
“It’s a serious, serious choice. If you do it, if you go for it, you’ll be making really important decisions where your brain isn’t functioning because of hypoxia or you haven’t had enough to eat. Meru is a much harder mountain to climb, but in some ways Everest is much more dangerous. The dangers are more insidious. They’re not as obvious.”
Jon Krakauer was a client of the 1996 Everest climbing team led by Rob Hall — the team which ended up suffering the greatest casualties in the 1996 Mount Everest disaster. Eight climbers, including renowned expert Scott Fischer, lost their lives after they were caught in a blizzard at the top of the great peak.
According to International Business Times, Mount Meru in the Himalayas is thought by some to be the center of the universe. It is an integral part of the creation stories present in Hindu cosmology and sits at the foot of the sacred Ganges river in India.
Makers of @merufilm relive their #MountMeru ascent before the film’s release Aug 14 http://t.co/21gYPhe9kG @chhabs pic.twitter.com/9zQ52AYkwa
— India Abroad (@indiaabroad) August 13, 2015
Other works by Jon Krakauer include Into the Wild, Under the Banner of Heaven, and Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.
[Photo by Andrew Toth/Getty Images]
