At 29,028 feet there is little oxygen, but hazardous and deadly snowstorms. Into Thin Air is the account of the deadliest season in the history of Mount Everest. At 29,028 feet, there's not much you can do when a snowstorm hits you, especially after walking and climbing for 57 hours.

Jon Krakauer, Fisher, and Hall had just planned a trip they would never forget. On assignment for Outside magazine, the author (and climber) Krakauer was to climb with thirteen others to the peak of the mountain. As he began his descent from the summit, 20 other climbers were still on their way to the top. No one noticed that the sky was starting to fill with dark clouds. Six hours later Krakauer collapsed in his tent from exhaustion and hypoxia, but still safe. The next morning he learned that six fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camps. When the storm finally passed, five of the men were dead, and the sixth so frostbitten his right hand had to be amputated.

Krakauer tells how Mount Everest has compelled so many people, including himself, to throw "caution to the mountain." After 57 hours without rest and the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion, there is nothing worse. Krakauer goes through harsh risk, expense, and life to climb 29,028 feet. Once you're on the top, you're on top of the world