For example, if you are planning to climb a mountain above 12, feet 3, meters , do include some climbs to a lower mountain of 8, feet 2, meters to check your susceptibility to altitude sickness.
Altitude sickness ranges from mild to severe, and these can occur at different altitudes for different people. It is crucial to take note of your body condition and look out for when you are exhibiting symptoms of moderate to severe altitude sickness. These symptoms worsen over time, may not respond to medication and often oxygen is required to alleviate them. Altitude sickness is caused by the lower oxygen levels at high altitude which in turns causes a lack of oxygen in your body.
This accumulation of negative effects eventually leads to severe altitude sickness and potentially causing death. There are several factors which determine how our body reacts to the lack of oxygen and the onset of altitude sickness. This means that you are taking in less oxygen in each breath that you take at a higher altitude as compared to sea level.
In the longer term, your body starts to produce more red blood cells to transport more oxygen to your body. This is what happens when climbers talk about acclimatization — giving time to your body to adjust and adapt to the lower oxygen levels in the air by producing more red blood cells in your body.
The longer time you give yourself to acclimatize, the less you would feel the effect of breathing at high altitudes. By acclimatizing, you can delay the onset of altitude sickness, and can climb to higher altitudes before you require oxygen. Avoid ascending faster than 1, feet meters per day to allow your body to adapt. If you go above 10, feet 3, meters , only increase your altitude by 1, feet meters per day. This is why sherpas living in the high altitudes regions of Nepal are better adapted to climbing Mount Everest.
Having lived in a high altitude environment, their bodies are used to operating at low oxygen levels by producing more red blood cells and altitude sickness is not a big deal for them as it is for people living at lower altitudes. Some people may be more prone to the effects of altitude sickness, and thus unable to quickly and efficiently acclimatize to high altitude.
Although spending a long time at high altitudes help you to acclimatize, it might not always be the best thing to do. If you are already experiencing moderate altitude sickness, you should reduce further exposure to low oxygen levels by returning to lower altitudes as soon as possible.
If you climb more than 1, feet meters in a day, returning to sleep at a lower altitude will help prevent altitude sickness. There are some medications that can prevent the onset of altitude sickness. It is crucial to seek the advice of your doctor before taking any medications or drugs at high altitudes.
Physiologically, using supplemental oxygen does the equivalent of reducing the altitude of a climb. It is calculated that climbing a mountain with oxygen will make the mountain seem 5, feet 1, meters lower than it actually is.
At rest, the effect is about 15, feet 4,m meters lower. In short, these climbers are fighting against time to get to the top before their body gives up. As part of our commitment to safety, we carry supplemental oxygen tanks and oxygen masks on all our climbs. We do not administer bottled oxygen in an attempt to relieve low oxygen saturation or difficulties breathing to help a climber reach the summit.
Besides the fact that you would look more like a hospital patient than a trekker, there are serious reasons why using oxygen in this manner is NOT advised.
As a trek, it is not difficult by hiking standards, if you remove the challenge of high altitude. I guess some people climb Mount Kilimanjaro just to say they did it, regardless of the manner in which it was done.
But it is not much of an achievement if you put Mount Kilimanjaro at sea level. In cases where a climber is experiencing severe symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness AMS , we may use an oxygen mask to deliver supplemental oxygen to quickly relieve.
Typically the oxygen is delivered via a regulator on a constant flow so it is important to match the flow rate to your pace and vice versa. Oxygen is delivered to the mask at a constant flow adjusted by a regulator. While the climber breathes out the constant flow oxygen is diverted to an accumulator. When an inhalation is made the accumulated oxygen is delivered as the first part of the breath, deep into the lungs.
The rich oxygen mix is the first part of the breath until the accumulator empties then a secondary valve opens to allow ambient air to complete the filling of the anatomical dead space the pipe feeding the deep lung where no oxygen exchange can take place.
A demand fed system has been developed that detects the pressure differential and delivers a precise squirt of oxygen via tubes up the nose every time the climber breathes in. It will be a great breakthrough if the tolerances can be achieved that will cope with the demanding atmosphere or lack of it of extreme altitude mountaineering. But it is not a failsafe redundant system which is what is necessary on the likes of Everest.
There will always be a debate as to whether oxygen should be used for ultra high altitude mountaineering. Whether or not it is viewed as being ethical, it is undoubtedly sensible.
After all, a client who becomes debilitated puts the lives of other climbers, and the Climbing Sherpas, at risk.
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