What is the theme in Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer?

The morality in the face of life or death is a theme in this book. All climbers are in a precarious position between life and death when they climb mountains like Everest. Are climbers responsible or even culpable for the welfare of other climbers? Krakauer tells of three Indian climbers on the mountain at the same time as he, who succumb to exhaustion and oxygen deprivation while climbing Everest from the Tibetan side. The climbers are found the day after they fail to return to camp by some Japanese climbers, disoriented and debilitated, but still alive. The Japanese climbers do not stop to help them, but simply walk past on their own ascent. Asked afterward about their failure to help the climbers, on replies, "We were too tired to help. Above 8,000 meters is not a place where people can afford morality."