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Jon Krakauer
Author of Into the Wild

Early
Life
Born in 1954
Grew up in Corvallis, Oregon
Father introduced him to mountaineering as
an 8-year-old
So he was very passionate about the outdoors from a
very young age.

Graduated from Hampshire College in 1976

Krakauer:
Post-College
After college he traveled
around Colorado, Alaska,
& the Pacific Northwest
Worked primarily as a
carpenter and commercial
salmon fisherman
Spent all his free time
outdoors

ADVENTURES
ls
i
v
e
D
b
m
u
h
T

1977 Traveled alone

to the remote Stikine
Icecap in Southeast
Alaska
Went three weeks without
encountering another person
Climbed a new route on an
intimidating peak called the
Devils Thumb

ADVENTURES (cont.)
1992 Climbed the West
Face of Cerro Torre in the
Patagonian Andes
A mile-high spike of granite, Cerro
Torre was once considered the most
difficult mountain on earth

May 1996 Climbed Mt.

Everest
A snow storm hit during his teams
descent from the summit, killing 4 of his 5
teammates
Wrote Into Thin Air about his experience

Krakauer quotation regarding the

Everest tragedy of 1996:
Short form media is reductionist by nature.
Television especially, but magazines, too,
including mine, distilled it down to "Here's the
good guys, here's the bad guys." And TV tried
to say, "Here's this tragedy that didn't have to
happen," and "Who's to blame?" It's so much
more complicated than that (Weissman).

Other Publications
Has been published in:

Outside
Rolling Stone
TIME
The New York Times
National Geographic
Many others

#1 New York Times

Bestseller
1998 Pulitzer Prize

Other Honors and Awards

1996 - New York Times bestseller
1997 - National Magazine Award
1997 - Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence
in Science Journalism from the American
Geophysical Union
1999 - Academy Award in Literature from
the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Charity
Involvement
1998 - Everest '96 Memorial Fund at the
Boulder Community Foundation
Board member of the American Himalayan
Foundation
Board member of the Alex Lowe Charitable
Foundation

Into the Wild

National Bestseller
About the adventures of 23-year old
Chris McCandless.
Many of Krakauers own stories are
interweaved throughout the book.
Interview with Krakauer
Interview with Oprah

Krakauer states, To
spend a year or two and
tell a story right is really
satisfying and after doing
that its hard to go back
and write magazine
articles.

The Book
Into the Wild was
published in 1996 and
spent two years on the NYT
Bestseller List
He wrote the book after the
success and great
popularity of his Outside
article on Christopher
McCandless published in
the January 1993 issue.

BONUS!
[Original article]Death
of an Innocent: How Chri
stopher McCandless lost
his way in the wilds
Print, read, and
annotate the original
Krakauer article on
Christopher
McCandless for bonus
points!
Due Friday

The Krakauer-McCandless
Connection
Krakauer saw a lot of connections between
Chris and himself from their interests, to their
world views, to their family lives.
I identify with him a lot, and it's a sad story. I
went back to the bus for the third time last
September. I've become quite good friends
with his family, we have sort of this weird
bond (Random House).
[Movie Interview]: Why and how Krakauer wro
te the book

A look Into the Wild

[Outside
link] Recovered photos from McCandless c
amera
[Outside article] A
treasure trove of unpublished letters and
never seen
photos offers a fresh perspective on the adven
tures of

Yet another bonus!

Print, read, and
annotate Outside
magazine's article
The Chris McCan
dless Obsession
Problem

Due Friday

Extras
Well check these out later
Google Map of Chris/Alexs journey
Prezi Map of Chris/Alexs journey
September 2013 NPR interview Did Jon
Krakauer Finally Solve 'Into The Wild' Mystery?