South Col: 6:00 a.m., May 11, 1996 - 26,000 Feet Summary and Analysis

At 6:00 a.m., Krakauer is awakened by Hutchison, who tells him that Harris is not in his tent. Krakauer is incredulous, saying that he had watched Harris walk to the edge of camp himself. He quickly dresses and goes out to look for Harris. He finds the place where he saw him slide down, and tries to follow his tracks. As he retraces the path he saw Harris take, he realizes that if he had not turned toward the tents but had continued straight, he would have reached the western edge of the plateau where the terrain drops off suddenly. He moves to the edge of the drop-off and sees a set of tracks he believes are from Harris. The previous evening, Krakauer had told Hutchison that he had...