One of the best parts of this entire novel is that the entire thing is rather moving. One part that stuck out to me in particular is when Krakauer returns to base camp and realizes that he is safe and he weeps "like I hadn't wept since I was a small boy." This is the falling action of the events that took place on the mountain and it is when I, as the reader could finally take a breath and digest all the tragedy that took place in the last few chapters. Until that point, Krakauer told the story as though in a sort of dream like state and many of the deaths did not quite register with me, but once he descends to base camp and I realize that he is safe I finally had a chance to reflect on his journey.
So many people died up on that mountain I just can't imagine what must have been going through his mind when he realized that he was going to be fine. I imagine that he must feel some guilt for having survived the when so many of his fellow climbers perished. At the same time though, he also must have felt extremely fortunate to still be alive.
I'd imagine that such a contradiction would wreak havoc with ones mental status as he went back and forth with feelings of guilt and joy for having survived. Perhaps by telling his story, he was able to alleviate some of this guilt.
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