Into Thin Air: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

On the morning of May 9, Krakauer and his teammates wake up early for the day’s climb. During the climb, Krakauer steadily advances to Camp Four, located on the plateau known as the South Col, the “launching pad for the summit assault.”

Over the course of the afternoon the weather deteriorates. In the evening, Krakauer sits in his tent. He hears a voice saying, “Let him in quickly or he’s going to die out here!” Krakauer discovers Bruce Herrod, a deputy leader from the South Africa team, “and the sole remaining member of that expedition with real mountaineering credentials.” Bruce has gotten lost, and is suffering from severe hypothermia. Doug Hansen is also doing poorly—he hasn’t slept in days, and feels horribly nauseous. While Krakauer is sympathetic for Doug, he feels a profound disconnect from the other members of the expedition: “each client was in it for himself or herself, pretty much.”

Just after midnight, Hall’s team proceeds with the next stage of the climb. Fischer’s team is also climbing to the summit at this time. Furthermore, unbeknownst to Hall, the Taiwanese team is climbing up to the summit as well. An hour into the climb, two members of Hall’s team, Frank and Doug, turn back. However, Hall runs into Doug, says something to him (as Krakauer puts it, “we’ll never know what was said”), and as a result, Doug turns back and continues climbing.

At the beginning of the expedition, Rob Hall gave his team a speech about the importance of obeying his directions on summit day. If Hall decided that conditions were too dangerous, he insisted, the team would have to turn around right away. On the morning of May 10, Hall and his team are approaching the summit of Mount Everest very slowly—since Hall ordered everyone to stay close together. As the team gets closer to the summit, Krakauer notices members of Fischer’s team and the Taiwanese team getting closer together.

Krakauer reaches the Southeast Ridge of Everest at 5:30 am, with the understanding that he needs to wait for the rest of the team before proceeding. He’s frustrated that he can’t just continue with Fischer or the Taiwanese, but he understands why Hall wants him to wait. The most rewarding part of mountaineering, Krakauer has always felt, is self-reliance—the freedom to make decisions for oneself. As a member of a group, however, Krakauer does not have this luxury—he must obey Hall.

At 7:10 am, Krakauer sees Hall arriving at the Southeast Ridge, and Hall gives him the go-ahead to climb. Krakauer begins climbing, and quickly passes Lopsang. Ordinarily, Lopsang would be at the front of any expedition to Everest; however, he’s tired and extremely nauseous. In part, Lopsang is sick because he’s had to carry Sandy Hill Pittman’s heavy satellite phone all morning. Furthermore, Lopsang chose to tow Pittman on a short-rope (i.e., he pulled her by a rope). As a result, Lopsang isn’t leading the group, as usual.

It’s not clear why Lopsang chose to pull Pittman; she made it very clear that she didn’t want to be pulled. Later, Lopsang claimed that he did so because he confused her with a different, weaker client. But he also claimed that he knew Pittman was Pittman, and towed her because he thought she’d be the weakest member. There’s another mystery: it’s not clear why Pittman didn’t just untie herself from Lopsang. She claims she chose to remain tied to him because she didn’t want to disrespect him. It’s possible that Lopsang short-roped Pittman because he thought that doing so was the only way to get her to the summit, and therefore, the only way to bring good publicity to Scott Fischer, his idol.