Ken Kamler talk
Students at Harvard: simulation
Jon Krakauer on stage
Study Guide for Discussion of “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer
All: I hope the questions posted on the page helped you: https://www.cbsd.org/cms/lib/PA01916442/Centricity/Domain/1574/Into_Thin_Air_story.pdf
Just make notes for yourself. No need to send me the answers. I hope for a lively debate.
- Why is the lead (first two grafs) more like a conclusion in an ordinary feature?
- Hard question. Did the presence of journalist Jon Krakauer and the female journalist Sandy Pittman ultimately endanger other climbers? How did Sherpa Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa violate his ethical duties by short roping Sandy Pittman to keep her going when she should have turned back?
- What does Beck Weathers conceal that ultimately puts him into danger and slows the progress of his companions?
- Rob Hall was the highly respected king of Everest group leaders. What led to his downfall and death? How did his favoritism for one team member (Doug Hansen) turn into a catastrophe after he violated his own deadline?
- How did the presence of so many ill-led expeditions put the climbers into jeopardy?
- On deadline for Outside, Krakauer makes the reporting mistake of his life. (He acknowledges the error in his later book). He thought guide Andy Harris had fallen off the mountain in the storm. Instead, the guide died trying to save Rob Hall.
- What was wrong with Scott Fischer’s guide Anatoli insisting on climbing without supplemental oxygen?
- The most complex stories you will ever tell as a journalist involve scandals best termed as a fiasco. How could this tragedy have been prevented?
- Discuss the ethics here: Climbers on Everest have a good chance of dying. In fact, the dead are seldom removed from Everest. They greet the climbers. Is this a legitimate and ethical chance for climbers to take?
