The Appeal of the Ultimate
Mountaineering is a well-recognized and respected outdoor activity. What’s more, it is almost unanimously agreed upon to be both romantic and honorable and is popularly depicted as an endeavor worthy of a decent human being, and a proving grounds for anyone seeking to prove either to others or to oneself to possess the qualities of one. The reasons for this vary from the physical challenge to the spiritual journey taken by the climbers.
Into Thin Air, a book by Jon Krakauer, which details his participation in the tragic 1996 climb, offers an interesting insight into the problem, describing the romantic and psychological aspects of the challenge as well as giving alternative views on the matter as a commercialized and popularized tourist attraction, unnecessarily dangerous and ultimately unrewarding.
Krakauer’s account is valuable for two reasons. First, his book thoroughly details his fascination with the prospect of climbing Everest throughout his life. According to the book, Everest was already an established hallmark of mountaineering when he was born, so the first notable event that defined his fascination with mountain climbing was the climb by Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld.
The widely publicized climb included the part where two men were stranded at the summit for almost a full day but managed to survive and safely descend without sustaining major injuries, limited only to a frostbitten skin. Krakauer was nine years old when this occurred and names this among the most influential events of his childhood. He states that while his friends at the time were fascinated primarily with sports personalities, such as baseball players, he has chosen these two climbers as his role models (Krakauer 24). Since then, the desire to climb Everest has defined his life.
By this point, the decision to climb Everest can be ascribed to its romantic nature, and the sense of adventure that is embedded in it. This becomes especially evident once we take into account the young age of the protagonist. At nine, the prospect of death while climbing may seem thrilling and honorable rather than futile and reckless, and the climbing itself becomes a process akin to conquering an impenetrable fortress, an exercise in capability and bravery.
These reasons are among those most often heard from the professional climbers as well as the occasional “mountain tourists.” The exact wording may differ, but the idea can be boiled down to the following: the climbers choose Everest despite the known dangers of the process to “push their limits,” to go against the forces of nature, to test their strengths when compared to the cold, impersonal and intimidating elements.
Jon promptly illustrates the harsh and merciless environment by stating that the number of deaths on the mountain roughly equals the number of people who have made it to the top, which makes up an unsettling statement: you are about as likely to scale the highest mountain in the world as you are to remain there as one of the corpses that are preserved by the cold for everyone to see (Krakauer 26).
An interesting point here is why Everest is preferred over other mountains or other perilous endeavors. Krakauer offers a partial explanation of this phenomenon in the second chapter of his book. While briefly describing the early history of Everest as the desired goal for climbers, he recounts the earliest measures that suggested its status of the highest point in the world in 1852 and the immediate reaction of the mountaineering community.
Thus, it seems almost inevitable that after Nepal opened its borders in 1949, the expedition led by Hillary has successfully reached the summit by the Southern side, which was much simpler than the previously available routes. However, the most important point is the change in attitude that can be observed once the height of the mountain is determined. According to Krakauer, nobody cared about conquering Everest before it was known as the highest point on the planet.
Thus, it is the desire to reach the best possible result that is responsible for the interest in this particular achievement. While other mountains may offer a substantial challenge it is generally agreed that Everest does not even remotely qualify as the hardest one (Venables 67), none of them can offer status of conquering the point beyond which no man can go. In this regard, the Everest becomes the ultimate challenge of sorts.
This suggestion is further confirmed by the author’s words: “Achieving the summit of a mountain was tangible, immutable, concrete. The incumbent hazards lent the activity a seriousness of purpose that was sorely missing from the rest of my life” (Krakauer 23). The choice of words characterizing the action’s tangibility confirms the clearly defined value of the mountain climbing as an easily measurable achievement. In this context, the height of the mountain becomes the means of assessing the level of the climber’s talent.
There is nothing more appealing than being able to describe one’s achievement by hard data such as numbers and graph it to demonstrate one’s superiority over others. This explains the informal name given to Everest in the early twentieth century, “the third pole.” In this way, the mountain is portrayed as a final destination, a very real and concrete goal which is compared to the North and South poles, which were previously perceived as the only two points on the planet that remained largely unexplored and resisted exploration.
This competitive component of the motivation for climbing can be seen not only in individual aspirations and ambition but extends to the broader scope, encompassing groups, and sometimes impacting cultures on a large scale. The first successful climb happened to coincide with the beginning of the era known as the Cold War. The competition between the main actors, the United States, and the Soviet Union is usually associated with the arms race and its technological counterpart, the Space Race.
However, the desire to show superiority in any field that could potentially have a winner prompted action in sports, including mountaineering. Some researchers suggest that while American expeditions were driven by individual effort, the Soviet response was political, conceived to undermine the value of Western achievement (Maurer 497).
Interestingly, while the image created by the early explorers suggest Everest to be the “final frontier,” very little of the purported thrill can be found by those seeking honor by conquering the mountain nowadays. While the early explorers had little on their disposal in terms of knowledge and, more importantly, equipment, as they were venturing into the unknown territory ill-prepared by today’s standards, much has changed since the first climbs by Sir Edmund Hillary and his followers.
The modern Everest is thoroughly mapped and explored, the routes are established, and the supplies and equipment available to the modern climbers look like technology from a science-fiction novel when compared to archaic, clumsy, and inefficient pieces used more than 50 years ago. This has led Jon to eventually abandon the idea of climbing it. What is even more discouraging to the ambitious climber is the inevitable commercialization of the mountain.
Krakauer mentions the climb by Dick Bass, a Texas millionaire who ensured his success with money as a turning point in the attitude towards Everest as a desired goal (35). However, the industry that emerged as a result of the growing demand was the reason for him to revoke his interest. After he had been hired to write an article on the tourism industry that was gradually building up around the world’s highest summit, he decided that the travel to the base camp and back would be enough. However, he soon felt he is ready to revisit his childhood dream despite all the discouraging factors.
This latest point suggests that the desire to climb is rooted deeper than the reasoning can reach as the author was largely disillusioned by now and viewed Everest as a mere attraction. However, once the dreams and memories were set in motion, he succumbed to them almost blindly. The assumption is confirmed by the research which traces the climber’s motivation to the realm of the Freudian subconscious, as compensation for the unresolved fears (Thackray 35).
Into Thin Air offers a comprehensive picture that accounts for the multitude of motivations which invoke the desire to climb the highest mountain in the world. Krakauer names or indirectly proves such reasons as the competitive spirit, the ambition, and the irresistible status of Everest as the ultimate goal. He also names several discouraging factors, such as the commercialization of the route and the relatively low difficulty compared to other climbs.
The fact that he was unable to resist the desire to climb despite his awareness of the said factors allows us to conclude that these motives and ambitions rooted deeply in the human psyche, the statement which is confirmed by the existing research.
Works Cited
Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Everest Disaster, New York: Pan Macmillan, 2011. Print.
Maurer, Eva. “Cold War, Thaw and Everlasting Friendship: Soviet Mountaineers and Mount Everest, 1953–1960.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 26.4 (2009): 484-500. Print.
Thackray, John. “The Psychological Utility of Mountaineering.” The Himalayan Journal 49.1 (1993): 33-39. Print.
Venables, Stephen. Everest: Summit of Achievement, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003. Print.