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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 nearly collapses at the top of the Hillary Step when climbing on Mount Everest?

2. Who discovers the bodies of the team mentioned in #151 the next day?

3. Who almost falls off the side of the rock face because he tries to climb before the ropes are secured?

4. Where did the team wait until the lines were put into place?

5. Which climber is openly scorned and hounded by journalists?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the eventual fate of Anatoli Bourkeev?

2. What does Brashears radio into camp as many of the climbers are at Camp Two?

3. What does Fischer do with his oxygen tank when he begins to make his descent from the summit?

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

5. Which route did the Indian team take in order to reach the summit?

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

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

8. What does Gau do in violation of his promise?

9. Why does Pittman fall to the ground as they are approaching the summit?

10. What items was Krakauer going to take out of his pack when he got to the summit, although he decides not to once he is there?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Hall says, "The trick is to get down alive," it seems to be foreshadowing for the rest of the tale. This knowledge that getting down is the hard part is something all of the hikers could have benefited from.

Part 1: In what ways is getting down the mountain harder than getting up the mountain?

Part 2: What are some of the ways Hall and the other teams attempted to make the climb down easier on the hikers?

Part 3: What other ways might the hikers have better approached the trek back down the mountain? Are there any ways you can think of that might have made this journey smoother?

Essay Topic 2

Giving into death must seem the easier route when you're stuck up on a mountain, waiting for someone to rescue you.

Part 1: Which hikers were stranded on the mountain while they waited for help?

Part 2: In what ways did they try to survive and to live through the night?

Part 3: What are some other ways hikers might have been able to keep themselves moving and motivated to live?

Essay Topic 3

Even with all of the possible ways that the trip up Mount Everest in the spring of 1996 could have been better, the events still seem to have been the most likely outcome.

Part 1: How could the hikers have better planned for weather conditions? Could they have done anything or was this truly out of their control?

Part 2: How might the health problems have been addressed better? Or were these events simply out of everyone's control as well?

Part 3: Does this trip seem 'cursed' from the start? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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