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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When Krakauer was at the mountain he came to climb, what enhanced his emotions?
(a) The cheers of the people who came to see him off.
(b) Two sturdy aluminum curtain rods with him, lashed in a cross shape, to prevent him from falling into a crevasse.
(c) The beauty of the snowy terrain and clear sky was intensified for him by his solitude.
(d) The clean air which gave him an oxygen high.

2. What was the skeleton in Walt's closet that stressed the whole family, Chris in particular?
(a) Walt and Billie divorced but later remarried.
(b) Walt had lived a bigamist life for some years after Chris was born.
(c) Walt kept a mistress after Chris went to college.
(d) Walt had affairs with several women.

3. Why does Krakauer think Chris could not excrete poison from his body?
(a) He did not have enough white blood cells to fight organisms.
(b) His deteriorated body did not have enough glucose and amino acids to bind with the poisons.
(c) Melted snow water caused him to become severely constipated.
(d) His bowel and urinary sustems had shut down.

4. How far did Chris travel on the Stampede Trail before he located the abandoned bus?
(a) Ten miles.
(b) Forty miles.
(c) A mile and a half.
(d) Twenty miles.

5. Why did Chris write in his journal that he had found the Magic Bus?
(a) Because it was stocked with wilderness essentials by the hunters who use it during moose season.
(b) Because it reminded him of a magic flying machine.
(c) Because it popped up out of nowhere.
(d) Because it saved him from having to pitch his tent.

6. A year after Chris's death, what did Krakauer observe on the banks of the Teklanika River where Chris had been unable to cross?
(a) There are dangerous rocks just under the surface of the water.
(b) The ice was breaking up and the footing was dangerous.
(c) The river is indeed a wide, churning flow of water.
(d) The river was overflowing its banks.

7. After Chris left home, why didnn't Carine get upset when he won't tell her where he was?
(a) She knew Chris was happy and thought he would come home some day.
(b) She thought their father would try to bring him home if he knew.
(c) She didn't want to know because she didn't care.
(d) She was glad he was gone so she could have his room.

8. What was the tender moment between Chris and his father right after Chris graduated from high school?
(a) He gave his father an expensive telescope and told him how much he appreciated him.
(b) He let his father ready his personal journal.
(c) He spent that summer doing things with his father.
(d) He asked his father's advice about choosing a college.

9. What sad discovery does Krakauer make just a quarter mile down stream on the river?
(a) There is a ranger station stocked with all kinds of food.
(b) There is evidence that Chris came that far and went back.
(c) At the now defunct station, a steel cable stretches across the river with an aluminum basket suspended from this cable by pulleys.
(d) There is an old bridge that a person could walk across.

10. What similarity is there between Jon's relationship with his father and Chris's relationship with Walt?
(a) Both fathers were weak willed and seldom gave their children advice.
(b) Both fathers were old and out of touch.
(c) Secrets were revealed and both young men resented the hypocracy.
(d) Both fathers turned out to be bigamists.

11. What spurred Krakauer on after his failed attempt to climb Devil's Thumb?
(a) The prospect of defeat.
(b) His mood after he naps.
(c) A spider that keeps working after its web breaks.
(d) The fact that he has enough food to try again.

12. How did Chris travel the 1,000 miles from Laird, Alaska, to Fairbanks?
(a) Hitchhiking, he got a series of rides.
(b) He walked most of the way.
(c) Jim Gallien gave him a lift.
(d) A truck driver named Gaylord Stuckey picked him up.

13. What does Carine recall that Chris loved so much?
(a) Her dog, Buck.
(b) Reading Moby Dick.
(c) The Gianni guitar.
(d) His yellow Datsun.

14. What shows Chris's attitude toward injustices that began when he was in college?
(a) He started a soup kitchen in Annandale.
(b) He took classes about world hunger, poverty, wealth distribution and racism.
(c) He refused a new car because there were so many people who did not have one.
(d) He began bringing homeless people to his dorm room.

15. What happened to Billie in July of 1992?
(a) She had a nervous breakdown.
(b) She had a dibilitating auto accident.
(c) She had a vivid dream of Chris calling her for help.
(d) She was diagnosed with cancer.

Short Answer Questions

1. Two decades later, what has Krakauer learned about his relationship with his father?

2. Why did the Candless family not follow the route Chris had taken to get to the bus as Billie wanted?

3. What did Krakauer do similar to what Chris did when he needed to go to the village of Petersberg?

4. Who gave Krakauer dinner and a place to sleep in Petersberg?

5. Chris's parents had moved, but his step brother was contacted. After he positively identified Chris, what did he do?

(see the answer keys)

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