system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
He also goes into a lot of detail showing how most climbers (ie the clients) are mediocre mountaineers that receive an inordinate amount of support to get to the top.

It's rich kids with time and money and a desire to do something "epic", while the sherpas do most of the work
gpt
I suppose it depends on what your preconceptions are before you read the book.

Personally I went into Into Thin Air expecting *all* the climbers to be rich kids who were basically carried to the top. For me, the surprise in the book was that there are actually a number of people who climb Everest that are not so rich (who save every spare penny) or diehard enthusiasts with considerable experience climbing lots of mountains.

I think ultimately there are a mixture of people who climb it for various reasons. I still don't really respect climbing Everest in particular because of all the stuff around it, but the book made me understand why people do it a bit better.