Outside Reading: Section 3; part 1

Summary
Chapter 8
In this chapter Hall decides that Krakauer's group should spend a few days at camp 1 and 2 in order to get used to the thin airand how high up they are. Krakauer is one of the first to get to Camp 1 and he finds it really hard to set up camp. After a night at Camp 1 they begin their 4 mile journey to camp 2. The freezing weather turns really hoy when the sun begins to reflect off the glacier. Krakauer then sees a dead body Iof a sherpa. When they reach camp 2 they see that it consists of 120 tents. They spend two nights there and it is very hard because of the high altitude. They then descend to base camp where the doctor gets a message from Ngawang, one of Fischer's. He has come down with HAPE, a form of altitude sickness. They send doctors up to help him down because the only cure for HAPE is to descend the mountain as quickly as possible. When they offer him bottled oxygen, he refuses even having altitude sickness becuse he as afraid it would tarnish his reputation as a good Sherpa. He reluctantly descends the mountain but later dies in hospital.

Chapter 9
In this chapter Krakauer's group goes from camp 2 to camp 3 which is at 24,000 feet. They spend a few days there. When they begin there decent the temperature is 40 degrees below zero. Krakauer underdresses expecting there to be alot of solar radiation. There isn't. Krakauer hands and feet go numb and other members of his group are suffering fom frostbite and other ailements. At base camp everybody is in a bad mood and Hall starts a big argument with the South American climbing team. Everyone hears then about Ngawang's death. Lopsang, Hall's sherpa, descends the whole mountain to see him and then reassends but is completely exhausted.

Chapter 10
In this chapter Krakauer makes another ascend to camp 3 and it is extremely difficult. Krakauer then goes on to describe the mistake of Beth Weathers who decided to climb the mountain in a set of of new boots and had great difficulty climbing. At camp 3 again he develops a form of altitude sickness and is miserable for days with coughing that separated his ribs and an awful headache. At camp 3 they are about 1 vertical mile beow the summit and Hall makes plans to reach the summit on May 10, a very successful and lucky day for summiting Everest.


Biography of Jon Krakauer
He was born Oregon in 1954 where he was introduced to climbing as a child. He went to Hampshire college where his love of writing and adventure made a great combination. In 1996 he summited Everest in one of the most disastorous expeditions ever. In 1998 for General-Fiction hee won the Pulitzer prize and also recieved an Academy Award for Literature. His two most famous books Into Thin Air and Into the Wild won numerous awards. Today he is contributing-editor of Outside Magazine and lives with his wife in Seattle.


All information was found at:
http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=123