Yes, John Krakauer certainly admires McCandless.
Explanation:
John Krakauer is the author of the best selling novel 'Into the Wild' where he gives its readers an insight into Christopher McCandless's journey to the wilds of Alaska.
From the novel, we get to know that Krakauer does admire MaCandless. John krakauer cherish and appreciates MaCandless's adventurous spirit. Although from the chapter sixteen we get to know how Krakauer points out Christopher's mistakes regarding his planning and execution while in Alaska, but despite that, Krakauer admires Chris for who he is and how smartly he plans his journey.