[MikeWaters]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Krakauer

The bestseller Into the Wild was published in 1996 and secured Krakauer's reputation as an outstanding adventure writer, spending more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list. The book tells the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man from a well-to-do East Coast family who, after graduating from college, donated all of the money in his bank account to charity, changed his name to "Alexander Supertramp," and began a journey in the American West. Nearly two years later, McCandless was found dead in the Alaska wilderness. In the book, Krakauer draws parallels between his own experiences and motivations and those of McCandless.

This fits with my assertion that Krakauer tends to write about himself, in the context of others' experiences, and in my opinion, does not always share his biases or his viewpoint. I have not read "Into the Wild", nor will I.

In his own book The Climb, the late Scott Fischer's top guide, the late Anatoli Boukreev quotes another climber from the ill-fated 1996 expedition as having witnessed an exhausted, oxygen-starved Krakauer collapse and nearly tumble off the mountain to his death in an unroped section between the Hillary Step and the South Summit. Krakauer did not mention this incident in his book, and subsequently downplayed it.[citation needed] In addition, Krakauer made a number of key observational mistakes up high, among them mistaking climber Martin Adams for Andy Harris and subsequently communicating to Base Camp that Harris had safely returned to high camp when he had not (Harris was similarly confused, and incorrectly believed his group's stashed oxygen tanks on the South Summit were empty). Some critics say Krakauer's mental confusion rendered him suspect as a credible eyewitness of history. Krakauer responded to some of these points in his book. Other critics[who?] ask why Krakauer, who during the ascent was one of the stronger climbers and who in his book was so critical of Boukreev for descending the mountain well ahead of his clients, did not himself do more to aid the weaker climbers, many of whom, including Harris, subsequently died. Krakauer later maintained that he was merely a (tired) climber, not a paid guide, and said the descent during an approaching storm was a case of every man for himself.

I don't know the attribution here, but it speaks for itself.