Into The Wild...the movie!

“i admire the kid's spirit, but he was awfully dumb in some ways”

“most brilliant people are.”

“what are you dumb about?”

“do you want the unabridged list my wife uses or the one that's in my mind at the moment?”

“your mind. shes female. her mind is not to be trusted”

“not trusting females! that's one of the ones on her list but not on mine...”

“thats why you shouldnt trust her”

“CB, Krakauer has done many more things than Chris, but Krakauer has always been part of the establishment ... journalist, family man, homeowner (I assume), etc. In all of his adventures, he always planned to go back to his real life. In Into The Wild, he was always comparing his adventures to Chris' but no matter how cool the thing Krakauer was doing, it was never dropping out and running your own path on your own terms. I felt that Krakauer was compensating for that throughout the book”

“it's been a long time since ive read the book, but i dont remember getting the sense that krakauer was glorifying mccandless. after all, he did include chris's fark-ups in the telling. you wouldnt know what an idiot chris was if it wasnt for krakauer telling you what an idiot he was

but you could be right that krakauer wanted to be him, i guess i shouldnt argue against that, i just dont know that he glorified him. i'd have to read it again to be able to say for certain”

“I may be putting to much of the blame on Krakauer for the glorification when it is really more reader coming to their own opinion from his book then posting on blogs, forums and in general conversations.”

“i guess it depends on who you ask...personally i think krakauer has the best of both worlds”

“Chris was a difficult person to understand. He "marched to a different drummer" (per his mother). Krakauer did an outstanding job because he explained how he saw Chris by giving us references to others that we might be able to better relate to. In the end, however, the best reference he was able to provide was himself since most people know Krakauer from his books... the story of his trek up the thumb is well known. it was just good writing and i can't see the book having been nearly as good written any other way.

i am constantly impressed with Krakauer. "Under the Banner of Heaven" was proof in my mind that he is just plain a great writer... not a one-subject author. he is passionate about what he does and damn good at it. it's hard to write non-fiction in a way that as engaging as he does.
last edited: 4/28/08 6:49:56 AM”

“If you read The Climb, you might have a slightly different opinion of Krakauer. Krakauer also plays loose with the truth. But I would rather have his life than mine or Chris McCandlesses :)”

“So are you guys saying read "Under the Banner of Heaven", but pass on "The Climb". lol. I haven't read either yet.”

“you find anatoli boukreev is more credible than krakauer?”

“and yes, i have read "the climb" as well as "above the clouds". i found them both unimpressive.”

““If you read The Climb, you might have a slightly different opinion of Krakauer. Krakauer also plays loose with the truth.”
hyway
8:50:45 AM

I second that. My opinion of Krakauer went down the tubes after reading The Climb, as well as several other books from that Everest season. Though, I did think Under the Banner of Heaven was well done.”

“yeah, well i'll tell you this much. if i EVER go on an everest expedition i hope the lead guide doesn't run up to the top then run to the bottom leaving me to fend for myself so he can bring me hot tea and oxygen IF i make it down. he was a great and accomplished climber, no doubt, but i believe a crummy guide.

i do not believe for an instant that scott told boukreev (his top-paid lead guide) to race to the top and then race down again to assist with people climbing down. why even bother having him summit in the first place? clearly it wasn't to help clients on the top of the mountain (because he wasn't there when they were) and he was decending so fast he didn't have a chance to help anyone on the way down.

also, i see no excusable reason why boukreev should not have been using supplemental oxygen. if he was a client i could understand this but as a guide i see this as inexcusable. in my mind the reason he had to get the heck down was because he couldn't stay up there in the cold without supplemental oxygen. he was a damn strong climber, and no doubt one of the more experienced and competent on the crew, but he was only human and his decision not to use supplemental oxygen limited his effectiveness as a guide... and that was his job on everest... not to summit... to guide.
last edited: 4/28/08 8:29:55 AM”

““you find anatoli boukreev is more credible than krakauer?”
Yogisan
10:58:35 AM
4/28/08

I am not defending boukreev or making any statements as to how accurate his side of teh story is. I am saying that it was plan after reading the climb and other sources, that Krakauer did a lot of face saving and ass covering and was definitely not accurate in his reporting. As a matter of fact, he almost plunged to his death near the Hillary step on the way up but he never talked about that in his book.

And whether or not it was a good thing for Boukreev to go down early, he was the only one on the mountain in any shape to save the others afterwards. I suppose you think he should have died on the mountain because he was paid to be a guide.
last edited: 4/28/08 8:43:20 AM”

“Again, I agree w/hyway re: Krakauer.

And whether or not Anatoli should have been using supplemental oxygen or not is definitely debatable...but the fact still remains that he was the only one that was able to help.

It was a tragedy no matter what...but I can't second guess what people do in those situations because I've never been there.”

“if whether or not anatoli should have been using supplemental oxygen is debatable then explain to me what possible reason he could have for not doing so?”

“Because his boss said he could climb without supplemental oxygen. But we were not talking about what boukreev did wrong or right, we were talking about how Krakauer is not to be taken as completely accurate in his writing. He colors his writing to make himself look good.”

“He didn't use it. He survived. He helped other people.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that his decision to not use it was the best decision or the right one. I personally feel that he should have used it and that Scott should have made him use it because he was a guide.”

“indeed. there is no disputing his efforts that season were heroic. the entire situation was a total train wreck.”

“http://skinnymoose.com/adventurist/2007/10/09/chris-mccandless-bus-142-theft-gets-deepersean-penn-chimes-in/

Kinda messed up...

'32oz”

“Thanks for posting. "Anything is our until the moment we create it." I think people blindly follow what Chris' ideals may have been. To the same fault that he followed his own. People are really missing the point, if you believe there was one.”

“October 9, 2007 (old story)

Still, the bus isn't a national treasure. Its just a derelict bus where a misguided fool lost his life.”

“Harsh, but well-directed hyway. It is easy to get lost in idealism and lose direction,literally and figuratively. Either way, the story is gripping.”

“Whew - reading Jimmysan trying to conflate the kid's stupidity into something profound was painful. Glad that guy is gone.”

“well, it's honorable that McCandless was willing to throw everything else away in order to follow his ideals. However, I think it's unrealistic to go 100% toward your ideals. You have to throw a dash of reality in there as well. That's where he was lacking.

That said, had he made one or two fewer small mistakes, he would've made it.”

“made what?”

“well, survived... he would've walked out of there”

“A fool and his life are soon parted in the wilderness.”

“Bolingbrook hiker rescued in Alaska -- again -- after journey into wild

The Bolingbrook teen ventured into the harsh and unforgiving Alaskan wilderness to see the "magic bus" made famous in the book/film "Into the Wild."

Don Carroll, 19, and his friend found the bus - and then got lost themselves for three days without food and water.

Unlike Christopher McCandless, the young adventurer who died near the bus, the teen's ordeal ended with a helicopter rescue Monday.

Now, it's the Alaskan rangers who are unforgiving.

"If police see me (hiking) in the woods, they're going to arrest me," a rueful Carroll said during a cell phone interview Tuesday.

It was the second time this summer that Carroll had to be rescued. He got lost in June after climbing Mount Healy in Denali National Park.

"The chief ranger said he's not going to come looking for me anymore," Carroll said.

Carroll, a culinary student at Joliet Junior College, is working as a line cook this summer at Princess Resorts, located about a mile from the national park.

Carroll and his friend, 21-year-old Jia Long He from China, set off Friday to find the bus. "It was just something I really wanted to see," Carroll said, adding that "it was really cool."

The pair had multiple layers of clothing, sleeping bags, a tent and a lighter - but no food or water. They had stashed their 30-pound food pack in some bushes when they had to cross a river, intending to come back to it after seeing the bus. Instead, they got lost.

Temperatures were in the 50s and 60s during the day, but near freezing at night, Carroll said.

They saw bear tracks, but no bears. They ate berries and drank river water. After the rescue, they were treated at a local clinic for mild dehydration.

Carroll said he and his friend were worried, but not that they would meet the same fate as McCandless.

"I was more worried about getting back home," he said.

In June, Carroll, hiking alone in a hoodie and jeans, became lost after climbing Mount Healy in Denali National Park. He suffered mild hypothermia after his clothes were soaked and he became disoriented, but was able to communicate with rangers by text messaging. Based on clues he texted them, rangers narrowed Carroll's location to just outside the park's boundary. They sent in a high-altitude rescue helicopter to retrieve him.

He also did a lot of hiking in the park this summer that ended uneventfully. He climbed Sugarloaf Mountain twice as well as the "Castle," a group of four rock spires along the Mount Healy ridgeline. He saw moose and marmots and a herd of Dall sheep and took dozens of photos of Alaska's stunning scenery.

He will return home to Bolingbrook in mid-September to go back to school.

Until then, his employer has suggested he conclude his Alaskan adventure with some community service.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=316376”

“You can't fix stupid, lol.”

“How about purchasing a map...or a compass...or he11 why not splurge and get one of each.”

“On one hand, I definitely want to call people like Bollingbrook or McCandless (Or Everett Ruess, for that matter) idiots for just wandering off into the wilderness unprepared. On the other hand, how many of us can say we went all-in to chase a dream? It's kind of respectable, in a way.”

“To me if you want to �go all in to chase a dream�, you do it like Dick Proenneke. His is a much more impressive story that, because he was competent and capable, couldn�t be spun into anything that would capture the imagination like �Alexander Supertramp�. In my mind, people like McCandless detract from their apparent dedication to a set of ideals by failing to prepare themselves to actually attain their dream. It is interesting and unfortunate that it required such epic failure for a message like McCandless� to reach a broad audience. In my mind it would have been much more respectable if he had made the sacrifices � spent the time learning about the wilderness and working to save up for the gear he needed � and gone into the woods ready to live in whatever spot suited him�but then of course he would have just been a guy who walked off into the woods and most likely none of us would have heard of him.

This Bolingbrook kid wasn�t chasing anything but a neat bus he saw in a movie, and he couldn�t even commit enough time to his preparation to pull that off.
last edited: 8/26/09 4:04:50 PM”

“McCandless never got lost. He was just a wanderer and never put the burden on anyone else for his follies.

This teenage punk, on the other hand, had full intentions of getting bailed out, knowing full well he didn't know what he was doing, going so far as to repeat the incident and drag a friend into it with him.”

“There should be mandatory community service and orienteering lessons for people like this kid

edit - the Bolingbrook kid i mean not McCandless
last edited: 8/26/09 4:29:54 PM”

“McCandless was mean. He said (of course in the movie) that he didn't believe in relationships but still became friends and had relationships with people then hurt them when HE decided he had enough and left. Pretty heartless, if true, I think.”

“McCandless was always more lucky than he was prepared. On many occasions luck saved his ass when by all rights he should have died.”

“Tango, I agree. I was always bothered by how coldly he just "finished" with people and vanished from their lives...”

“squirrels”

“...are tasty?”