1. How do specific mental and emotional qualities (such as confidence, self-control, and more) make a person fit to climb Everest but also possibly lead to disaster?

There are many qualities that can either lead someone to the summit, or lead someone to death when climbing everest. When I started the book, I thought that the most important aspect of making it to the top was having persistence, and the will to push yourself, but as the book progresses, you start to learn that these qualities not only help a person get to the top, but may also be their demise. Towards the end of the book, your perception of the climbers changes vastly as their true characters are revealed. When starting the book, I thought that if someone chose to push their way to the top no matter what, they were the smart ones, but as you read on you come to realize that the smarter ones are the people who have the will to stop short of the summit and turn around. Also, as the story progresses, you see alot of the climbers and sherpas on Krakauers team making very crucial and sacrificial moves in order to save their team-mates from death and injury. At first, you believe that these acts show true character, which they do, but at the same time it is the reason that many of the climbers die.

3. Following the publication of this book, numerous public battles ensued over specific people's actions and the author's presentation of them. Does Krakauer have the authority to criticize any of the people on Everest that day? If so, who and why?

In the story, every single person climbing the mountain makes a mistake atleast once, although some mistakes have greater consequences than others. Because of the high altitude and the living conditions, all of the climbers thoughts and actions were impaired, so I believe that Krakauer has room to criticize, but not much. The main characters that Krakauer put under fire were the members of the South African and Japanese teams for their poor judgement and overall disregard for the other climbers on the mountain. During the course of the book, Krakauer places them in the villain category, and thinks of his team as more of the good guys. Further in the story, you come to realize that the South African team is truly villainous, but at the same time, so are many climbers on the mountain. Also, he throws the Japanese team under the bus for leaving the Indian climbers to die in the snow. This act is truly disgusting, and I think that it solidifies their position in the villain category along with the South African team.