Jon Krakaer

Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer, primarily known for his writing about the outdoors and mountain-climbing. He is the author of best-selling non- fiction books (Into the Wild, Into Thins Air, Under the Bannner of Heaven, and Where Men Win Glory : The Odyssey of Pat Tillman- as well as numerous magazine articles. Krakauer was born in Brookline, Massachusetts as the third of five children and was raised in Corvallis, Oregon from the age of two. His father introduced the youg Krakauer to mountaineering at the age of eight. He competed in tennis at Corvallis High School and graduated in 1972. He former climber Linda Mariam Moore and they married in 1980. They lived in Seattle, Washington but moved to Boulder, Colorado after the release of InTo Thing Air.
One year after graduating from college (1977), he spent three weeks by himself in the wilderness of the Stikine Icecap region of Alaska and climbed a new route on the Devils Thumb, an experience he described in Eiger Dreams and in Into the Wild. In 1992, he made his way to Cerro Torre in  the Andes of Argentine Patagonia -- a sheer, jagged granite peak more typical of thos found in the Himalayas or Pacific Rim and considered to be one of the most difficult technical climbs in the world.

Krakauer's most recognized climb was a guided ascent of Mount Everest that became known as the 1996 Everest Disaster. Soon after summitting the peak, Krakauer's team met with disater as four of six teammates( including group leader Rob Hall) perished while making thier descent in the middle a storm.

A candid recollection of the event was published in Outside and eventually in the book "Into Thin Air." By the end of the climbing season, fifteen people died trying to reach the summit, making it the dealiest single year in Everest history. Krakauer publicly criticized the commercialization of Mt Everest following this tragedy.
Much of Krakauer's popularity as a writer came from being a journalist for Outside magazine. In November 1983, he was able to abandon part-time work as a fisherman and a carpenter to become a full-time writer. His freelance writing involved great variety, in addition to his many works involving mountain climbing. His writing has also appeared in Smithsonia, National Geographic Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Architectural Digest.

On assignment from Outside, Krakauer wrote an article focusing on two parties during his ascent of Mt Everest: the one he was in, led by Rob Hall, and the one led by Scott Fischer, both of which successfully guided clients to the summit  but experienced severe difficulty during the descent. The storm, and, in his estimation, irresponsible choices, by guides of both parties, led to a number of deaths, including both head guides, Krakauer did not feel his article a accurately covered the entire event in only one shor account and clarified his initial statements, especially regarding the death of Andy Harris, in his later book after extensive interviews with survivors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Krakauer