Reading Section 6: Into Thin Air

Summary
(238-278)

As the Japanese climbers are approaching the summit, they encounter 3 Indian climbers that were in critical condition. They choose to ignore them and continue to the summit. The surviving teammates in Krakauer's expedition are very tired and in very bad conditions for continuing the voyage down the mountain. They find Namba and Weathers, which they left behind during the storm. Weathers had his sleeping bad blown away and everyone thinks he's dead. But they end up finding him again alive. One of the Sherpas gets hit by a rock and almost dies, but then a second rock comes down and kills him. A helicopter brings two of the climbers in critical condition to safety while the other's are safe to climb down on their own. Krakauer talks about how he's trying to figure out what happened in that event when he went back home. He determines that simple mistakes lead up to the disaster. Krakauer feels guilt for what happened there. He could have possibly helped someone who was dying there he thought.