Every spring hundreds go to Everest.
V.Pringle goes to base camp –
Himalayas – tallest mountains in the world – thousands have tried it, hundreds
have completed it and then
Using portas and yaks – everything must be carried in. Everything loaded in
17,000 feet – Everest base camp – Khumbu Ice Fall – too steep and dangerous –
must be carried by the climbers. Series of the 4 camps. Climbers will return to
base camp several times to rest or to wait out the weather.
GPS, computers to monitor brain function. Equipment doesn’t work you won’t
make it off Everest alive.
Kathmandu – very busy spot. Sits on the bank of a filthy river. Not the kind of
place a healthy climber. Feel the grit around you. Pollution is everywhere. Rush
hour – some idea of the problems – way too many cars, kerosene – air is so
polluted and it’s so dirty.
Trip to the city is a necessity – permits to sherpa guides to gear.
Most expeditions –
Camel – new and used gear – some shops look like museum of people that have
climbed Everest before. Warm above 26,000 feet. Gear – gaiters – side gear –
mountaineering boots – no lace system. Plastics – away from the leather boots –
moisture and would freeze – like putting on ice blocks. Need to have crampons –
one of the biggest dangers on Everest – ice! Crevasses are everywhere!
3000 feet of vertical ice – big ski hill – lots of fresh powder – same run – with ice
– scary. Climbing – hard and dry – ice – and you need the gear.
Everest – flags blowing – always windy there!
Gortex and titanium,
Stark memorial – many sherpas and westerners are memorialized. Mountain
decides who gets to the top and who goes home.
Just a few paces below base camp –
Oxygen tank – life and death piece of equipment. As you climb – air gets so thin –
most people can’t breathe.
Depends on the climbers – camp 2 or camp 3, some won’t use it for camp 4.
It helps you to stay warm –
Disadv – to climbing with oxygen. Body to used to using oxygen – if you run out –
hypoxic – your body can’t adjust to any oxygen. It happens all the time. Oxygen
system became empty – he became disoriented and died by falling off a cliff.
Oxygen wins out – climbing slowly – we’ll have to have the oxygen b/c we might
freeze. They will be carried up the mountain and stored up at the camps.
The film makers – how to keep the camera’s rolling on the top of the World.
No roads – no cars, no trucks – narrow steep pathways. Why not fly into base
camp?
Not that simple. First problem – air, 17,500 feet – so thin – helicopters can
barely fly. Wreckage – helicopter crashes 2003 – killing 4 people. Khumbu ice
fall – rescued Beck Wethers – 1996. Thin air – lack of oxygen who haven’t taken
enough time to adjust to the altitude. Altitude sickness is unpredictable – even
during the trek up – go slowly and let your body adjust.
Altitude: Chinese – fever slope, headache mountain – gods on the mountains.
Mountain sickness – lack of oxygen. Body tries to compensate by increase in
blood pressure – blood vessels start to leak. HAPE – High altitude pulmonary
edema –
Brush off symptoms – goals get in the way. Reason why they get sick – don’t
recognize.
Fluids can leak into the lungs.
Most people have
You have to get down to get better.
Altitude sickness – off the summit – resting in a tent at camp 4 – he was
suffering from hypoxia – he manages to go down. His body wanted to sleep. Get
down fast! Gamow bag – portable hypobaric chamber. Simulating a descent.
Watch your oxygen. Altimeter – sometimes have to keep people in the bag for
more than an hour.
Zipped up – air tight. Foot pump forced air into the chamber. Air pressure
affects the ears. Already down to 16,000 feet, after 10 mins of pumping –
12,000 feet. All aids in getting more oxygen. Blood saturation level – 90%.
Breathing a lot richer air. Cerebral Edema or HAPE – oxygen rich air. To be able
to go down 6000 feet. Get you better in the short term – and arrange an
evacuation. Effects are temporary. Bag is portable.
Sherpas – human transport.
Portas- these men sherpa elite. Base camp – to summit in 11 hours.
Sherpas are amazing – low oxygen environment doesn’t seem to bother them.
Trying to unravel the secret of those people living in that environment.
Andes – increasing lung capacity. Produce more haemoglobin in their blood to
carry more oxygen.
Tibet side – north side – people have lived there at altitude for thousands of
years. But they don’t have the same characteristics as the other population.
Tibetan highlanders – do not have lg lung volumes or elevated haemoglobin.
Tibetans – carrying 10% less. But the other population carries 25% more. Given
the same metabolism – how is it the Tibetans are maintaining that much?
Dr. Bell – looked for a mutation or a genetic link – tested thousands of others.
Some could carry more oxygen then others. It could be genetic. High oxygen
saturation had more surviving oxygen. Not processing enough oxygen would cause
infants to die.
Isolating the gene – screen ourselves in advance – I’m going to do well. Or I’m
going to need oxygen while climbing.
Trying to find the high altitude answer.
While the sherpas build base camp and the team discovery plan on getting their
equipment high on Everest.
All need power to run
Just to set up a tent – very hard work. All about being self sufficient. Sherpas
brought up generators and wire and transformers. Solar power may work as well.
First challenge – how to make it all work.
Tent bathroom – a bucket that a sherpa has to take down.
Boiling water – water starts to evaporate at 70 before it boils. Food like pasta –
impossible to cook completely. But it will get tougher as you go up higher on the
mountain.
Collecting data – simulate working and living on Mars – brain – sensitive part of
the human body. 2% of body weight but uses 15% of body’s oxygen. Lack of
oxygen and solar radiation – basal ganglia – controlling speech and motor control
and cognitive abilities. Changes in speech – undectable by human ear. When
NASA sends astronauts – might be as easy to listen to their voices. Team
discovery – capture their changes. Palm pilot – speech timing. Tests done at sea
level and all up the mountain.