The YouTuber on a Mission to Trash My Book, Chapter Two: Michael Tracy's Overarching Lie

Описание: Michael Tracy falsely claims Rob Hall made an agreement with Outside magazine stipulating that Hall would pay Outside for me to join Hall’s 1996 Everest expedition, and in return Outside would publish a promotional article written by me extolling Hall’s commercial guiding business, Adventure Consultants.

In this video I show there is absolutely no truth to this claim.

Tracy’s allegation that “Adventure Consultants’ oxygen problem started in February of 1996 when "a last minute addition of a non-paying client named Jon Krakauer meant they would not be able to order extra oxygen” is false and defamatory. There is no credible evidence indicating that Rob Hall’s oxygen supply in 1996 was less than he intended it to be due to the addition of another client (me) to the roster a month before the expedition got underway.

Tracy’s allegation that Rob Hall's team did not have a backup regulator or reserve oxygen equipment is similarly false, and Tracy has likewise provided no credible evidence to indicate otherwise.

Contrary to Tracy’s claim, Into Thin Air does not indicate that the 1996 disaster was “caused by a social climber [Sandy Pittman] and a Kazakhstani guide [Anatoli Boukreev] on the Mountain Madness team.” Instead of suggesting the disaster was caused by one or two factors, as Tracy claims here and elsewhere, my book provides a much more nuanced analysis, explaining that the tragic outcome in 1996 was the result of multiple, complex, interrelated factors.

The final 37 minutes of this video consists of excerpts from the text of my book, Into Thin Air, with audio and occasional photos accompanying the text. By reading and/or listening to these excerpts, viewers will be able to decide for themselves whether my book was written to promote Rob Hall and his guiding company, Adventure Consultants, as Michael Tracy claims.


IMPORTANT UPDATE: Researching, writing, and creating videos for these chapters has been a tiresome, exceedingly unpleasant task. It has consumed months of my life, without any guarantee the outcome would be more helpful than hurtful. But as a direct result of my Medium posts and YouTube videos, on February 11, 2025, Michael Tracy announced on his YouTube channel that he has removed what is probably his most deceitful and defamatory video—the one blaming me for the death of Yasuko Namba, which I debunk in Chapter Three of my commentary.

Tracy removed his video reluctantly, after yielding to intense criticism from his own followers. And he did so without apology, or admitting his video was dishonest, or indicating he would correct the many false and misleading statements he made in this video.

But he took the video down. I am very grateful to Tracy’s followers who stood up for the truth.

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