"Among these climbers was a 49-year old Dallas pathologist and an amateur climber, Dr. Beck Weathers, who was left to die in the icy storm 300 yards from his camp. Miraculously, Dr. Weathers survived and came back from his ordeal to speak of his experiences, and to tell us about some valuable lessons he has learned. Let's welcome Dr. Beck Weathers."

I watched and listened as this man swayed his disfigured arms and explained that he had scaled the world's largest heights and yet, still had not been at peace with himself. He had wanted more "courageous" success, because he had conquered all but the grand Mount Everest. The drive for more accomplishment and the need to be more "courageous" had persuaded Beck to follow the 1996 expedition. Beck sobbed as he stated that on May 10, 1996, he had realized, as he was

http://home.earthlink.net/~iwonder/thoughts.html

There was an air of everyone for himself or herself on Mount Everest. No one had the energy or created the energy to carry another load. That was why Beck Weathers was left in the snowstorm to die and yet, he had understood the selfish reasoning and blamed no one for his ordeals except himself for following his desire instead of logic. On the other hand, Krakauer had his own sense of why things went so horribly wrong.

Mudge, Alden. "Into Thin Air". Book Page Nonfiction Review. 18 August 1999.

near death, that what he had thought to be courageous was truly a relentless pursuit of success and goals and ambitions. He had risked his life in a cowardly and selfish way for his own fortune. Dr. Weathers had found that his irrational triumph of desire over sensibility was the most

"Climbing is a subculture that prides itself on the purity of its ideals. It has these weird rituals and rules that most people wouldn't understand. Some of it is kind of sick, because it idealizes boldness and risk-taking to such a degree. But its these ideals about respecting your partner and about 'how you climb being more important than what you climb' are really good. I betrayed those ideals. For that I really beat myself up."

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1484
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)