Chapter 2 foreword

In March 1996, Outside magazine sent me to Nepal to participate in and report on a guided Everest climb.I was one of eight clients on an expedition led by New Zealand guide Hall.I succeeded in reaching the summit on May 10, but that summit paid a heavy price. When we were still at the summit, a snowstorm suddenly came without warning, and four of the five teammates who climbed to the summit lost their lives, including Hall.By the time I got back down to base camp, nine people from the four expeditions had died.Before the month was over, three more people died. After that expedition, I was too devastated to write.However, five weeks after my return from Nepal, I submitted a manuscript to Outside, which appeared in the September issue.Once the report was done, I tried to get Everest out of my mind and get back to normal life, only to find I couldn't.I have been trying to clear the fog of emotions, trying to understand everything that happened on the top of the mountain, and persistently reliving the scene of my companion's death over and over again.

Under the circumstances at that time, the "Outdoor" article had tried to be accurate, but the deadline could not be delayed, and the sequence of events was very complicated, and the memory of the survivors was severely distorted by exhaustion, lack of oxygen and shock.During the investigation and research, I once asked three mountain friends to describe in detail an incident that the four of us witnessed on the high mountain. As a result, the key facts such as time, who said what, and even who was present were completely different from each other’s statements. match. A few days after the Outdoor article was published, I discovered that some of the details I reported were wrong.Most were minor flaws that are inevitable in limited-edition news coverage, but one was a major one that hit the friends and family of one of the victims very hard.

In addition, due to the limited space, many materials have been omitted, which is almost as disturbing as the fallacy of distortion in the article. Outside Editor Brian and Publisher Burke gave me a super-long report on this story, 17,000 words in total, four or five times longer than a typical magazine feature.But I still find it too simplistic to do justice to the tragedy.Climbing Mount Everest has completely shaken my life, and it is extremely important to me to record those events without omissions.This book is the product of that burning desire. Human sanity is highly unreliable at high altitudes, making research investigations problematic.In order to avoid relying too much on my own cognition, I repeatedly spent a very long time interviewing most important people on various occasions.I also tried to use the radio logs recorded by the people in the base camp to verify the details. The people in the base camp should have a clearer mind.Readers who are familiar with the article in "Outdoors" may find that some details reported in the magazine (mainly in terms of time) are slightly different from those in this book. Some information was only dug out after the magazine article was published. Some revisions.

Several writers and editors I respect urged me not to rush into writing this book, feeling that I should wait two or three years to see the expedition from a distance before I could have some major insights.Their advice made sense, but in the end I didn't accept it, mainly because what happened on the mountain kept gnawing at my courage.I thought writing this book might take Everest out of my life. Of course, I didn't get it.What's more, I also agree that if there are authors who regard writing as catharsis like me, the works are often difficult to satisfy readers.Yet I still hope that there is something to be gained from confessing my soul in the midst of the noise and torment of the present, in the aftermath of the catastrophe.I wanted a raw, brutal candor to my narrative.If things change over time and the grief dissolves, that honesty is in danger of being lost.

Some of the same people who advised me against rushing to write a book warned me not to climb Everest.There are thousands of good reasons not to go, but attempting to climb Everest is inherently irrational, the result of desire overriding judgement.Anyone who is seriously considering climbing is almost impossible to be swayed by rational arguments. In fact, I knew I shouldn't be going, but I went to Everest anyway.In doing so, I would be complicit in the murder of several respectable persons.This matter will be branded on my conscience and will not go away for a long time. powerful.Krakour

Seattle, November 1996