Fatal Depth
Johnathon Clark
English 101
Pillhuj
High Risk Adventure People have a deep fascination with participating in activities like high risk action sports. Two of the most extreme as well as revered high risk adventures are climbing over 29,000 feet to the top of Mount Everest and diving to depths as deep as 250 feet to the wreckage of the 700 foot luxury yacht Andrea Doria. Though the two seem completely opposite, climbing Mount Everest and Diving the Andrea Doria share some similarities. The similarities amongst the two can be found the most when comparing the Disaster of the 1996 Mount Everest climbing season with the fatal diving accidents that took place at the Andrea Doria. Both of these tragedies display some of the same factors that ultimately led to deadly instances, which are pride and ignorance. These qualities drive the behavior and ambitions of those whom possess them in such a way that they can lead to devastation, which the two events testify to. On Everest the flaws of Pride, and selfish ambition, impel a desire to achieve the unique ability of doing something that so few have managed to do, create a sense of vanity among the climbers that completely numbed their sense of danger. A direct indication of how Rob Halls team’s perception of life or death can be seen when Krakauer writes, “Mortality had remained a conveniently hypothetical concept, an idea to ponder in the abstract” (Krakauer). Besides fu213eling bad decisions and blinding people’s perception of mortality, the pride shown in a selfish manner towards the ambition of reaching the summit of Mount Everest was justified by the climbers with a sense that once they got to the top they would be able to take pride in their prestigious accomplishment. Similarly to the selfish ambition and prideful actions of the climbers on Mount Everest, some of the Divers that dared to plunge to the wreckage of the Andrea Doria shared the same type of obsession for adventure driven by their selfish
English 101
Pillhuj
High Risk Adventure People have a deep fascination with participating in activities like high risk action sports. Two of the most extreme as well as revered high risk adventures are climbing over 29,000 feet to the top of Mount Everest and diving to depths as deep as 250 feet to the wreckage of the 700 foot luxury yacht Andrea Doria. Though the two seem completely opposite, climbing Mount Everest and Diving the Andrea Doria share some similarities. The similarities amongst the two can be found the most when comparing the Disaster of the 1996 Mount Everest climbing season with the fatal diving accidents that took place at the Andrea Doria. Both of these tragedies display some of the same factors that ultimately led to deadly instances, which are pride and ignorance. These qualities drive the behavior and ambitions of those whom possess them in such a way that they can lead to devastation, which the two events testify to. On Everest the flaws of Pride, and selfish ambition, impel a desire to achieve the unique ability of doing something that so few have managed to do, create a sense of vanity among the climbers that completely numbed their sense of danger. A direct indication of how Rob Halls team’s perception of life or death can be seen when Krakauer writes, “Mortality had remained a conveniently hypothetical concept, an idea to ponder in the abstract” (Krakauer). Besides fu213eling bad decisions and blinding people’s perception of mortality, the pride shown in a selfish manner towards the ambition of reaching the summit of Mount Everest was justified by the climbers with a sense that once they got to the top they would be able to take pride in their prestigious accomplishment. Similarly to the selfish ambition and prideful actions of the climbers on Mount Everest, some of the Divers that dared to plunge to the wreckage of the Andrea Doria shared the same type of obsession for adventure driven by their selfish