Awe and Amazement Quotes in Into Thin Air

While it's hard to blame the climbers for getting caught up in the moment, they're making a big mistake by spending so much time on the summit. Though beautiful, it's a deadly place: your body is dying every second spent up there. After coming so far and working so hard, this is not the time to stand in jaw-dropped awe.

For his part, Krakauer hopes that an awe-inspiring experience atop Everest will give his life the shakeup it so sorely needs. Be careful what you wish for, old pal.

Holy smokes, that's a terrifying thought. For people like Krakauer, on the other hand, this thought is practically an invitation—an invitation to undergo an experience shared by very few people. We guess that's the difference between people who actually climb mountains and those of us who just read books about them, huh?

To be honest, Everest isn't that tough of a climb. Though the ascent is long and tiring, there are no steep cliffs to vault or death-defying leaps to be made. The truly awe-inspiring thing about Everest isn't its difficulty, but its sheer height.

That's so weird—"Three-Dimensional Landscape of Phantasmal Beauty" also happens to be our favorite Salvador Dali painting. Jokes aside, it's amazing how quickly the Icefall—a veritable deathtrap—transforms from a hall of horrors into a little slice of heaven. But Krakauer shouldn't let his guard down just yet: As he'll learn, looks can be deceiving.

This is a big moment. Although he has but a few hours to sit back and enjoy this view before continuing his long trudge up the mountain, Krakauer is happy for what little he can get.

There are so many people on Everest that it's difficult to get some alone time. That's insane. Don't you think that might ruin your enjoyment of the majesty of nature? Wouldn't that make you feel like you were at a mall rather than on the world's tallest mountain?

Of course, some good, old-fashioned oxygen deprivation will make things feel even more magical. As Krakauer's brain goes haywire, the poor dude is swept up in a hallucinogenic blur that might as well be a deleted scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

So why does Krakauer feel so numb (no pun intended) after reaching such a "coveted" goal? Is it that he's just plumb tuckered-out by the long climb up? Or is he still wrapping his head around the fact that he still needs to climb down? Either way, this moment doesn't affect him as much he had expected.

On the other hand, Everest does change Krakauer's relationship with his home—it makes him appreciate it way more. Now the little moments that bored him to tears just months ago inspire more awe than he felt while standing atop Everest.