Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer, born April 12, 1954, in Brookline, Massachusetts, is an American writer and mountaineer who has worked for Outside magazine and currently resides in Seattle.

Krakauer has contributed articles to major publications such as National Geographic and Rolling Stone. He gained widespread recognition for *Into Thin Air*, his account of the tragic events that occurred during his ascent of Mount Everest in May 1996. The expedition resulted in the deaths of eight climbers. The book sparked a significant controversy with guide Anatoli Boukreev, whose version of the events differs in several key aspects from Krakauer's.

*Into Thin Air* was adapted into the 1997 television film *Into Thin Air: Death on Everest*, directed by Robert Markowitz. The film stars Peter Horton as Scott Fischer and Christopher McDonald as Jon Krakauer. It maintains Krakauer's viewpoint, though it presents differing interpretations of who was responsible for the events.

Krakauer is also the author of *The End of Solitude*, which details the story of Christopher McCandless, an American adventurer who died in Alaska in 1992 after suffering from plant poisoning and exhaustion. The book was adapted into the 2007 film *Into the Wild*, directed by Sean Penn.

The 1996 Everest tragedy was again adapted in 2015 in *Everest*, directed by Baltasar Kormákur. Michael Kelly portrays Krakauer in the film. Krakauer has criticized certain scenes in the movie, stating that they depict events that did not actually occur, and he has noted that he has never met Kelly. However, he acknowledges one point raised in the film: his presence as a journalist may have influenced the expedition leaders to take additional risks. He has expressed regret over his participation in the expedition.

Krakauer's 2003 book *Under the Banner of Heaven* recounts a real-life murder case from 1984 near Salt Lake City, in which two dissident Mormon brothers killed their sister-in-law and her fifteen-month-old daughter. The book was adapted into a seven-episode television miniseries, *Under the Banner of Heaven*, which premiered in 2022 and was written by Dustin Lance Black.