The Failure Of Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer

In the past, many books have been written about the treacherous climb of mount Everest. One of the most well known stories documented on the climb was Into Thin Air, written by Jon Krakauer in 1997. The book is based off of the disaster on Everest in 1996, which became one of the most dangerous Everest expeditions of all time. At severe chilling climate, and extremely low amounts of oxygen, climbers of the 1996 Everest expedition were forced to make moral decisions, in which they must choose to save themselves, or choose to save others. Most climbers have tons of experience when it comes to climbs mountains. People such as Ian Woodall, and Lopsang Jangbu had to put their lives at risk during the expedition to choose to be either selfish, or
Lopsang was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineering guide, climber and porter. He was a Sherpa on the 1996 Everest expedition, and was part of Scott Fischer's team. Lopsang has plenty of experience on mountain climbing, considering that he has summited Everest four times. During the Everest climb in 1996, Lopsang portrayed many acts of selflessness, meaning he decided to help other members on his team when they got into life threatening situations. One example of Lopsang demonstrating selflessness during the climb was when he helped Sandy Pittman up the mountain. Sandy doesn’t have much climbing experience, so Lopsang decided to help her get up the mountain safely. Another example of Lopsang showing a selfless personality was the way he acted towards Scott Fischer. Lopsang was always looking out for Scott during the climb, especially when Scott was in trouble. This was extremely important because Scott was one of the best leader on the expedition considering that he was an experienced climber, and he knew what to do when things got hairy. I think Lopsang made a good choice on deciding to be selfless because as much as you want to get home alive, other climbers also want to get home to their families, and be known as the guy who summited
Ian Woodall and Lopsang Jangbu both made opposite choices on choosing to be selfish, or selfless. If I was to pick one of these people to guide me to the top of Everest, I would choose Lopsang. I feel like this would be the better choice out of the two because if something went wrong, I would always have someone to rely on for help. Lopsang also had way more climbing experience than Ian, and would have a better understanding of how to reach success while climbing. I believe that Ian Woodall made a bad choice on being selfish because he didn’t really help others reach the summit, but rather helped himself. Having a selfless personality gains you a substantial amount of trust from others, and makes other people around you more confident for success. Therefore, if I was put in a situation like Lopsang or Ian, I would choose to be