'Into Thin Air': Searing account of magnificent men and women in the Death Zone

^{Mount Everest from Gokyo Ri Photos: Wikipedia}

The finest book on sport ever written, to my knowledge, is “Into Thin Air”. John Krakauer tells how eight climbers died in May 1996 near the summit of Mt Everest. May was normally the best time of the year for climbing the great peak but in 1996 hurricane-force winds over 70mph, temperatures plunging to -40 degrees C and a wipe-out blizzard so fierce climbers could not see their own feet swept the “Death Zone” (above 25,000ft). Many people were heroes that day, the living and the near-dead, none more so than Hong Kong’s Frank Fischbeck, a supreme example of Hemingway’s definition of courage, grace under pressure.

^{Frank Fischbeck}

Here’s what Krakauer, who was there on the day on the mountain having summited earlier, wrote about Frank (early last century I knew him when we were colleagues on the South China Morning Post): ” . . Frank, the gentlemanly, soft-spoken publisher from Hong Kong was the most impressive, demonstrating the savvy he’d acquired over three previous Everest expeditions; he started out slowly but kept moving at the same steady pace; by the top of the Icefall he had quietly passed almost everyone, and he never seemed to be breathing hard.”

Ordinary people who wouldn’t have the guts to climb a mountain, myself included, can only marvel at the bravery shown by so many on Everest in May 1996:

Rob Hall, Kiwi leader of Adventure Consultants and pioneer of commercialised guiding on Everest, had climbed Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for the Peak of Heaven, five times. He was caught in the blizzard in the Death Zone with an ailing client, Doug Hansen. He could have saved himself by abandoning Hansen and heading down, but Rob refused to do this staying with Hansen and eventually succumbing to the horrific hypothermic conditions. His body still lies near the Everest summit, frozen, half-buried in the snow. Before dying Rob had spoken by satellite phone to his wife, Jan, in Christchurch NZ: “I love you. I hope you’re in a soft warm bed. Sleep well, my darling. Don’t worry too much.”

Sandy Hill Pittman, a rich socialite from New York, had a platoon of sherpas carry up the mountain her gourmet food, expresso machine, five cameras, a CD-ROM player, a satellite phone so she could broadcast about her mountaineering exploits to American fans and magazines such as Vanity Fair so she could show articles about herself to fellow climbers. Sandy was decried as a joke, vilified in the press, but went on to climb the world’s highest seven mountains.

Andy Harris, another Kiwi, was a guide for Adventure Consultants. He was described as “fun-loving. upbeat, selfless, strong, having a good heart and always being the first to help others”. On the mountain in May 1996 Andy made a valiant attempt to save a stranded teammate, but he was hypoxic and hallucinating. Andy’s ice axe was found at the top of a vertical slope. He is thought to have walked off the edge, delusional, falling thousands of feet to his death. His body was never found.

Yasuka Namba, a diminutive Japanese lass, was reserved, polite, proper and incredibly driven. She had summited the world’s seven highest mountains. Only 100lbs, Yasuka was admired for her incredible spirit and resilience. She died on May 10, 1996, exhausted and frozen, perishing near Camp 4. One climber had to leave her half-buried in the snow, an arm pathetically reaching out, twitching in death throes.

Scott Fischer, an American leader of Mountain Madness. Scott was a highly respected, charismatic, physically dominant, character with a “go-for-it” attitude and slay-the-ladies good looks. But Scott was ill with a liver ailment and hypoxia., He was descending, having summited with clients accompanied by sherpa Lopsang. At 8400 metres, the exhausted Scott asked Lopsang to descend without him. Later the sherpa climbed back up and found Fisher slumped in the snow. It is common for hallucinating people dying of hypothermia to undress. “His oxygen mask is around his face, but the bottle is empty,” Lopsang said. “He is not wearing mittens, hands completely bare. Down suit unzipped, pulled off his shoulder, arm bare. There is nothing I can do. Scott is dead.” His body remains on the mountain at the Southeast Ridge Balcony.

Beck Weathers is an American pathologist who suffered from severe, long-term depression. Beck obsessively pursued mountain climbing as a form of escape from his demons. He prioritised high-altitude challenges over family life. Beck disappeared in the blizzards on Everest twice, other climbers giving him up for dead, before appearing out of the storm like a ghost. He was severely frost-bitten losing much of his hands and his nose, which surgeons repaired with parts of his ears. He is still alive today working as a motivational speaker and author of “Left for Dead”.

Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air” is the kind of book you will never forget. Because he was there, experiencing the trauma, watching the unfolding tragedies with a journalist’s eye, it is one of the greatest books ever written about mountaineering. Frank Fischbeck, photojournalist and historian, still lives in Hong Kong, now about 80, still gentlemanly, still soft-spoken, still immensely admirable to those who know what he has been through up there in the Death Zone.