Jon Krakauer
(b. 1954)

Avid mountain climber and outdoor enthusiast Jon Krakauer never considered himself a writer. However, when he submitted an essay to a magazine describing his first climbing experience it opened the door to a new career. Since then, Krakauer has written many accounts about harrowing activities, including a 1996 climb of Mount Everest in Nepal that resulted in the deaths of eight fellow climbers. Krakauer's bestseller, Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster (1998), chronicles the experience.

Mountain climbing and other risky activities had always been a part of Krakauer's life. He climbed his first mountain when he was only eight and dreamed of one day climbing to the summit of Mount Everest. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Krakauer worked as a carpenter for five months out of the year. As a freelance journalist, he spent the remaining months climbing and writing about his adventures. By 1983, he quit his carpentry job and became a full-time writer. He wrote his first book-length collection of essays on mountain climbing, Eiger Dreams: Ventures among Men and Mountains, in 1990. Krakauer's next book, Into the Wild (1996), is the nonfiction account of a young man who died while living in the wilderness and mountain climbing.

In March 1996, Outside magazine sent Krakauer on an expedition to Mount Everest with a team led by expert climber Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and other leaders on the journey, eight people died and several were severely injured by the end of the climb to the summit. Krakauer's book Into Thin Air gives an account of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading to its tragic end. Although Krakauer's childhood dream of climbing Mount Everest became a reality, the catastrophic expedition had a deep, long-lasting effect on him.

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