More recently we saw the film of the book and just a few days ago Film 4, a channel we rarely use, offered us 'Everest' (reference 3). This turned out to be a bit incoherent - I would have thought someone who did not know the story would have trouble following the action - but it did convey an impression of what it must have been like up there, five miles up, as the tragedy unfolded.
After which I read the book again, to wonder at what propels people up these things. A bit of strenuous walking - not climbing mind you - in the Lake District or wherever - is fine, and one gets the occasional rush as one gets to the top of something, be it pass, col or peak. But I don't think I would have ever been tempted to spend weeks in some considerable discomfort - not to say pain and not to mention the huge expense - to be able to say that I had been to the top of the world. But clearly a lot of people are, and a significant proportion of them die young.
Viewed from my armchair, there did seem to be a number of avoidable errors. There were far too many people on the mountain on the day, leading to traffic jams eating into vital time. Commercial pressures meant that the two key leaders - Hall and Fischer - pushed harder than they should have done. Weak climbers should have been turned back much sooner - with some not being turned back who should have been. And they were unlucky with the weather. On the credit side, there was plenty of heroism when things turned bad, with just the odd flash of bad behaviour being put on record.
Lucky or unlucky, it seems that life in the thin air at the top of Everest is very bad for your health, even with supplemental oxygen. There are plenty of possible fatal complications, including massive - but usually temporary - degradation of brain function. Mistakes and errors of judgements all over the place - in a place where there are huge drops on all sides and little enough room for error.
One wonders about the corrupting effect of offering trips up Everest as an adventure holiday for the athletic rich. One thinks about the glory days of Mallory and Irvine, when they did it for the glory and took 'King Lear' for bedtime reading. But perhaps it was really only glory days for the rich, the people who could afford to take months - if not years - out for this sort of thing. While these days, I have read at least one story about a lady mountaineer - who died young, not that far from Everest, the year before the present tragedy - who sweated away in a climbing goods store to pay for her outings. See reference 7.
One also wonders about all the fixed ropes and ladders. I imagine there are plenty of purists who say that this is cheating. While Krakauer's answer would be to ban oxygen, except for emergencies, a ban which would keep amateurs out of places where they are apt to get into trouble.
All in all, a fine bit of vicarious mountaineering.
PS: picture turned up by Bing, from Wikipedia. I think the South Summit, rather than the summit proper, from the South Col - but it does give an idea of what it is like on a good day.
Reference 1: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/search?q=babbitt+everest. The first mention of Krakauer.
Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/07/mildred-pierce.html. The last mention of Krakauer. He clearly made an impression!
Reference 3: Everest - Baltasar Kormákur, William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy - 2015.
Reference 4: Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest - Beck Weathers - 2000. Now on its way from Amazon.
Reference 5: Into thin air - Jon Krakauer - 1997.
Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everest_(2015_film). A successful punt, grossing $200m on an outlay of $50m.
Reference 7: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/search?q=Alison+Hargreaves.
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