... who surround it - for better or for worse, depending on your viewpoint. In his story of the ill-fated expeditions that attempted to climb Everest in the spring of 1996, Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer writes of the primitive conditions he and his team faced in the small hamlet of Lobuje, one of the waypoints they rested at before making the push to ... the settlement was an open sewer the lodge filled with dense, acrid smoke, as if the exhaust from a diesel bus were being piped directly into the room. Twice during the night, coughing uncontrollably, I had to flee outside for air. By morning...

• Word Count: 1154
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School