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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is thought to be dead at this point of the story, although it is revealed later to not be the case?

2. Which climbers were found ill, but alive, although no one stopped to help them?

3. "One must have drive, but too much drive will get _____________"

4. Who finally goes on to attach the lines that are necessary to allow the climbers up the mountain?

5. What does Lopsang give to Fischer to help him feel better?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Hall doesn't tell his group when they will be turning back when they reach the summit, what does Krakauer interpret this to mean?

2. What does David Brashears note about the team Beidleman has taken into Camp Three?

3. What does Groom say about the tanks of oxygen at the South Summit, even though Harris was mistaken about this fact?

4. What does Krakauer realize about the hiker he thought to be Harris?

5. What does Krakauer notice about the air in Seattle?

6. What has happened to Weathers, according to Hutchison's discovery?

7. What risks go up as the oxygen in Krakauer's tank begins to decrease?

8. What is the eventual fate of Anatoli Bourkeev?

9. What are the physical effects of Weathers' miraculous rescue and recovery from Everest?

10. What do the Japanese climbers do when they find the bodies of the Indian climbers?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The goal of getting to the top of Mount Everest often gets in the way of making logical and safe decisions. People are blinded by the possibility of reaching their goal that they forget themselves, it seems.

Part 1: In what ways are the leaders of the groups affected by their goals of getting to the summit? What poor choices do they make because of their commitment to their goal?

Part 2: Which hikers are affected by their commitment to getting to the top? What poor decisions are made in the face of health problems and schedule problems?

Part 3: How might it have been possible to talk the hikers into safer decisions without hurting the dream they have in their mind of standing on the top of Everest?

Essay Topic 2

The relationships between characters is something intriguing to the reader. At times, there is an open sense of competition, for others, there is a sense of camaraderie.

Part 1: What are some examples of positive relationships between hikers on the mountain?

Part 2: What are some examples of potentially negative relationships between hikers on the mountain?

Part 3: How might this difficult challenge of hiking to the summit affect those hikers on the mountain? What does such an impossible task do to those around the hikers? To their families?

Essay Topic 3

The leaders of the teams, Scott Fischer and Rob Hall, were very experienced climbers on Mount Everest. At the same time, their eventual demise shows they were just as powerless over the mountain.

Part 1: Describe the character of Rob Hall. What was he like? What makes him a strong and a weak leader?

Part 2: Describe the character of Scott Fischer. What was he like? What makes him a strong and a weak leader?

Part 3: Compare and contrast these two figures. How are they alike and how are their different?

(see the answer keys)

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