How Everest disaster book Into Thin Air inspired craft beer maker Scott Powrie to push himself and climb a Himalayan peak

Writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air (1997) is a first-hand account of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster in which eight climbers and guides lost their lives. It is widely acclaimed for its highly detailed, evocative telling of a tension-packed story, and controversial for the way in which it apportions blame for the tragedy.

Scott Powrie, the United States-born, Hong Kong-based co-founder of local craft beer brand Double Haven and Dragon Water alcoholic seltzer, tells Richard Lord how it changed his life.

I read the book in about 2007. It was given to me by my wife (Leigh) when we were first dating. She had read it herself and really enjoyed it. I was not really a reader at the time – I was too fast-paced, always doing stuff. I guess you could say I was at a crossroads in my life, looking for something new and different.

I used to work in off-roading. I was a project manager for metal fabrication, I was working on cars and I became a mechanic for race teams, who then hired me as a navigator. You could say I’m into quite extreme things.

I’ve always done a lot of running and outdoor activities. In my early days, I was a boy scout, but we would just camp in the desert (in southern California), which wasn’t very exciting. Mountaineering is a way of engaging with the outdoors that’s way more interesting.