Jude William Gamel
Taylor Mill, Kentucky

It's amazing to me that rich clients are looked down upon by the big-time climbing community. For years, "purists" have spent half their time climbing and half their time begging well-heeled sponsors for support. Rob Hall and Scott Fischer should be lauded for actually having worked to support themselves, a rarity among expeditioners. As for the rich, they've finally decided to get their money's worth.

Bill Straw
Bottineau, North Dakota

I'm speechless. incredible, just incredible, the tragedy itself and Krakauer's ability to describe it. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight, either.

Thomas Bushaw
Richland, Washington

This tragedy illustrates how humans are mucking up nature by ignoring some commonsense rules of survival. One such rule is to leave death zones alone. I can enjoy the wilderness without a Sherpa or an oxygen mask. Nobody will ever read about my adventures, and I'm poor magazine copy--I'm not out to prove anything to anyone. Isn't it time we moved beyond the era of "hero goes forth, hero conquers, hero is rewarded"? Strength lies in silence, too.

Judy Stern
Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota

The everest story was the most powerful I've read in Outside. Sadly, the only positive reflection is that future expeditions may heed the lesson and avert catastrophes. I hope that Krakauer can come to terms with what happened on the mountain. Hindsight was not meant to be a mirror.

Alex Jomarron
Oak Park, Illinois

Often in the outdoors, unexpected conditions require a person to count on nothing but luck to avoid catastrophe. But in this case, the behavior of some of the climbers in Krakauer's story seems as irresponsible as that of a drunk driver on an interstate. Nevertheless, whatever your take on the story, Krakauer did an extraordinary job of capturing the drama and danger inherent in such expeditions.

Robert Boland
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Unreal, isn't it, how we can be so cozy in our nests and not even realize that people are dying out there. I cannot explain my feelings after reading "Into Thin Air"--sadness, shock, and relief that Krakauer and others survived. I know I can't feel even a tenth of his emotions, but it was one hell of a story.

Gary Asbridge
Hood River, Oregon

Two weeks after the magazine went to press, I discovered compelling evidence that Harris did not walk off the Col--and that in fact the person I encountered was not Harris. In a telephone conversation, Martin Adams, a client of Scott Fischer, revealed that he had encountered a climber just above the Col at about the same time I had encountered Harris. In the stormy darkness, Adams couldn't tell who the other climber was, but their conversation, he says, was very similar to the one I reported having with Harris. Adams and I are now certain that, in my hypoxic condition, I confused him with Harris.

On July 25, in a four-hour, face-to-face discussion, Lobsang Jangbu, Fischer's head Sherpa, revealed something that hadn't come up in our previous discussions: He had spoken with Harris on the South Summit at 5:30 p.m. on May 10--about the same time I thought I saw Harris near the South Col. By this late hour Hall had been radioing for help, saying that Doug Hansen had collapsed on the Hillary Step and that both men desperately needed oxygen. As Lobsang began descending, he saw Harris, himself ailing, plodding up the summit ridge to assist Hall and Hansen. It was an extremely heroic act for which Harris deserves to be remembered.

As I reported, when radio contact between Hall and Base Camp was reestablished the next morning, a distraught, debilitated Hall said that Harris "was with me last night. But he doesn't seem to be with me now. He was very weak." From this snippet, which I interpreted as the incoherent babble of a severely hypoxic man, it is impossible to say what became of Harris. But the awful truth that he is gone remains.

For two months after returning from Everest, I was haunted by the thought that Harris, who'd become a close friend, had been so near the safety of camp and yet never made it. Unable to let the matter rest, I obsessively mulled the circumstances of his death even after my article went to press--which is how I discovered my error.

That I confused Harris for Adams is perhaps not surprising, given the poor visibility, my profound exhaustion, and the confused, oxygen-starved state I was in. But my mistake greatly compounded the pain of Andy Harris's partner, Fiona McPherson; his parents, Ron and Mary Harris; and his many friends. For that I am inexpressibly sorry.

Jon Krakauer
Seattle, Washington