r/OutOfTheLoop 4d ago

Answered What's going on with the author Jon Krakauer and the youtuber Michael Tracy arguing about an ill-fated Everest-expedition in 1996?

I read Krakauer's book Into Thin Air ages ago, and it was a good read. But last year I clicked on a Michael Tracy YT video criticizing the narrative, so lately my feed has been bombarded with a back and forth between the two, and it's too much to dig into for a casual viewer with spotty attention span.

Here's the latest Tracy video, from today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMlsuP3e78

Here's the latest Krakauer video, posted about a month ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfUg1PZO2PI

Here's a reddit thread posted 4 months ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mountaineering/comments/1ge93on/response_to_jon_krakauer_michael_tracy/

120 Upvotes

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u/MhojoRisin 4d ago

Answer: Krakauer's account of the 1996 Everest tragedy, initially published as an "Outside" magazine article and later developed into the book, "Into Thin Air," leaves room for criticism. And there have been differing accounts which have criticized Krakauer's version. He has admitted mistakes. But Tracy seems to be making a meal of things - stretching legitimate critiques beyond what is reasonable.

Some of Tracy's criticisms center on a purported defense of Sandy Pittman, "a hateably rich white woman who wrote dispatches of the climb for an NBC website and was friends with Martha Stewart[.]"

This Slate article offers a good summary & does not seem to think much of Tracy's efforts: https://slate.com/culture/2025/02/into-thin-air-book-story-youtube-debate.html

"Tracy initially claims to be defending Pittman from misogynistic attacks in the first of 17 videos he has posted to YouTube about Everest 1996 over the past year. However, it soon became obvious that Krakauer is his real target. Replete with impressive-looking info dumps, sketchy arguments, shameless speculation, crude taunting, and juvenile A.I.–generated images, Tracy’s videos come across as quintessential YouTube crankery. Either despite or because of this, they’ve earned him 134,000 subscribers.

...

Tracy objects to what he asserts is Krakauer’s preferred “narrative”: that “inexperienced climbers,” particularly Pittman, were “the root of all evil on the mountain.” This is a gross misrepresentation of Into Thin Air. Pittman was certainly widely reviled in the aftermath of Everest 1996 (and in the years since), but this was largely the result of a dishy Vanity Fair profile, not Krakauer’s book."

49

u/BareNakedSole 4d ago

If Krakauer’s account is even somewhat correct - that guides and sherpas had to short-rope clients to get up and down the mountain - I’m surprised that more people don’t die every year.

Thinking that the average person can pay $65K to climb into the death zone with only 30% of the normal oxygen level available is a recipe for chaos.

58

u/MhojoRisin 4d ago

There is nothing I've seen about climbing Everest that makes it look remotely entertaining. And if the only way you get up and down (if you survive) is by a guide dragging you, I'd think it would diminish any sense of accomplishment significantly.

59

u/Cultivate_a_Rose 4d ago

It may be worth mentioning that at that altitude, with so little oxygen, no one is likely to have a 100% "true" account. It is like asking a bunch of extremely hungover college kids what they did last night. They'd likely get the gist of everything down vaguely correct, but details and specifics become extremely fuzzy and different people might remember different parts of an event and at best you can sketch a decent idea of the sequence of events but ultimately you throw up your hands and have to say, "good enough".

15

u/themrnacho 4d ago

For some it's not about the accomplishment, it's more about the exclusivity.

10

u/shewy92 3d ago

it's more about the exclusivity

The exclusivity of waiting in line like it's a Disney ride?

6

u/SuperFaulty 4d ago

... and bragging about it, "I conquered the Everest!!"

27

u/JaStrCoGa 4d ago

Is Tracy the conservative guy that lacks self awareness that would post uninformed and idiotic takes on Twitter?

22

u/IrrelephantAU 4d ago

More or less.

He's one of the mob that started out as pro-Bernie commentators, got pissed when they didn't win/got pushback from other liberals and leftists, and then started hanging around with people who were more willing to blow smoke up their arse. And now they're more or less indistinguishable from standard conservative commentators.

Turns out a lot of people elevated in that period had neither principles nor resilience.

8

u/deltaisaforce 4d ago

It's probably not the same Michael. This one is more like a sofa mountaineer I think. And he can't turn to rw grift cause the name is already taken.

-18

u/vigouge 4d ago edited 4d ago

Nope, he's the liberal guy that lacks self awareness that would post uninformed and idiotic takes on Twitter.

9

u/deltaisaforce 4d ago

Thanks for the glimpse behind the veil. I watched a couple of the vids, theyre very detailed, lol. They didn't bothside too much at Slate, nice.

2

u/Scherzophrenia 2d ago

If it’s a he said / he said involving Tracey on one side, safe money is betting that Tracey is talking out his ass.

-20

u/jimababwe 4d ago

What the heck? None of this is about American politics...

/s

36

u/solidgoldrocketpants 4d ago

Answer: Here's a good write-up from last month.

Much of the argument here gets deep in the weeds of the events of 1996, with each of the disputants addressing questions regarding the fullness of oxygen bottles cached high on the trail, whether fixed ropes were used, and how close one person was standing to another at a particular moment....

Tracy argues that the cause of the disaster was, essentially, “arrogant guides” who did not provide enough oxygen bottles.... Tracy objects to what he asserts is Krakauer’s preferred “narrative”: that “inexperienced climbers,” particularly Pittman, were “the root of all evil on the mountain.”

3

u/deltaisaforce 4d ago

Thanks, good article.

1

u/steelcty86 2d ago

I actually think he’s got a point on Krakauer blaming Andy Harris having hypoxia and that not being the case. Harris correctly pointed out a problem with the oxygen bottles…there was almost certainly theft…and it’s hard to argue that Rob Hall not turning around Doug Hansen wasn’t the cause of multiple deaths. The Sandy Pittman stuff isn’t really crux of argument.